Monsters and Madness (Werewolf TsumexOC) (On Hold)
by ThatLazyBch
Summary: (ON HOLD FOR NOW) She knew that becoming a werewolf wouldn't be an easy thing to get used to. As Shauna learns the ropes to being a werewolf, a war threatens to spark between Werewolves and Vampires. Can she handle the pressure of fighting in this war? And what's going to happen with her relationship with Tsume? I don't own Wolf's Rain. (Sequel to Once a Full Moon.)
1. Chapter 1

**_I couldn't help but make a sequel to this, I love it so much. But this time around things are gonna get much more messy, but you'll see what I mean soon enough. For now, enjoy the introduction to the newest story of mine- Monsters and Madness._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain. Apart from Bex, every character from here on out that is not an official WR character belongs to me. Bex belongs to Kitsune300._**

* * *

 _The storm clouds rumbled with thunder, and flashed with the many jolts of lightening that clung to it. The rain lashed down with little mercy on to who it fell upon, the wind whirling around as the storm rages on. The icy feel to the wind sank into the skin of whoever was foolish enough to be out in it, and it was so dark you would be lucky to see your own hands in front of you, apart from when the lightening flashed._

 _Tsume looked around frantically, golden eyes wide and he felt confused as to why he was here. Panic started to sink in, and he wasn't sure if there were actually voices whispering to him or if it was only the wind..._

 _"Ts... me..."_

 _A chill ran up his spine and he spun around, voice getting stuck in his throat as he saw the familiar figure standing behind him, "Y-Yuudai...?"_

 _"You... eed... -reful..." The speech was broken and the image of the man was flickering, the rain seemingly going straight through his body, "...-res... war..."_

 _Tsume winced as the rain beat down even harsher, to the point where he could barely even see what was happening anymore, "Wait, no," He hissed as he tried to look through the rain, attempting to take steps towards the figure, "Yuudai, hang on, what are you-" A fork of lighting struck the ground in front of him and made him quickly step back. He gritted his teeth in his frustration and tried to go back to what he was doing, but froze when he saw that the man was no longer there in front of him. He shielded his eyes and glared through the rain, as if trying his best to see where he went. However, all he saw in front of him was landscape._

 _The ground suddenly started to crack in half beneath his feet and his eyes widened again. He tried to run, but it was pointless, as the ground shook once more before it caved in, bringing him with him regardless of what he did._

Tsume shot upright and winced in pain as his head throbbed. His hands ran through his hair and gripped his head, his chest heaving with the heavy breaths he tried to regain. His eyes glanced briefly to the clock beside his bed and he scowled, noticing how it was only just past six in the morning. He sighed, there was no way he was getting back to sleep now... Throwing his legs over the bed, he prepared to stand up, until something made him pause.

Arms wrapped around his neck from behind and his body relaxed at the familiar scent. He glanced back to see a pair of sleepy emerald coloured eyes watching him with concern, "Tsume... why are you getting up? The _sun_ isn't even up..." She mumbled quietly, nuzzling her head to his shoulder.

He grunted in response, "I... can't sleep..." He admitted, though he left out the fact that the dream he had disturbed him more than he'd have liked.

The blonde haired girl sighed and hugged him closer to her, "I didn't ask why you were awake," She grumbled, "Why are you getting _up_? You can't just leave me..."

Tsume rolled his eyes at that, "Just go back to sleep..." He sighed, frowning when he felt her grip tighten and pull him back.

"Not until you come back to sleep..." She whined childishly into his shoulder, frowning.

He made a face, "Shauna," He growled out in irritation, but she didn't seem fazed in the slightest and only pulled him closer to her.

"C'mon, you can't just _leave_ me like that... until the sun comes up at least." She nuzzled her head into his neck, causing him to shiver slightly at her touch.

His will to get up collapsed and he sighed in defeat, rolling his eyes, "... You're such a child..." He mumbled, sighing as he lay back down.

Shauna grinned in satisfaction, "Maybe," She smirked, "But if I get what I want, I don't care if I act like a child..." She gave a hum of content as she shifted closer to his side, arms around him.

Tsume just grunted and put his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to basically use him as a pillow. While she fell back asleep, rather quickly he noticed, he simply stared at the ceiling, wrapped up in his own thoughts...

The morning finally came and Tsume sat at the table, seemingly lost in thought as he held a cup of coffee in his hands. Shauna turned around and frowned at him, confused as to why he seemed so spaced out today. She sat down next to him and poked his hand, causing his gaze to shift to her, "Are you okay?" She asked, eyebrow raised, "You seem miles away..."

He grunted, "I'm fine." He answered shortly, taking a drink of his coffee quickly.

His answer didn't reassure her in the slightest; actually, it made her even more concerned, "Yeah, sure..." She rolled her eyes, "Out with it."

He couldn't help but glare halfheartedly at her; he wasn't actually mad, after all she was concerned about him when not many people were. He tapped his fingers on the table and grumbled, "I had a... weird dream..." He admitted.

Shauna blinked, "A weird dream? Like, a nightmare?"

"Not so much a nightmare... It was disturbing, but it felt more like a message than an actual dream..." He looked up and noticed she had a confused face, which made him sigh in irritation, "Forget it, you don't understand."

Shauna frowned, "Sorry but I've never had a dream like that... What was it of?" She asked carefully.

He tapped his fingers on the desk again, growing uncomfortable talking about it, "My brother was in it."

"Your brother?" She blinked at him; this was the first she had heard of him having a brother.

"He died about a year ago, coming up to two years now." He grumbled, "Car crash killed him."

Shauna stared at him in slight shock; almost two years ago her parents and her older brother died in the exact same scenario. She chewed her lip, "Sorry."

"Tch, why the hell are you apologizing? You didn't kill him." He cracked his neck, "Not that anyone actually could, he was basically the size of a tree with a body made of steel..."

Shauna smiled in amusement at his comment, and nodded, "What was his name?" She asked, curious.

"Yuudai."

She hummed, even the name sounded tough. She frowned at Tsume silently, not sure what she should even say in a situation like this. She pouted at feeling useless and was about to say something when she felt a hand on top of her head, ruffling her hair. She blinked to see Tsume smirking at her in amusement.

"Don't worry about it." He said, getting up and walking to grab his jacket before he left for doing the daily patrols of the area, a job Max had given him until he built up his reputation again. Right as he was about to open the door, he felt arms wrap around him from behind and a head buried into his shoulder. He glanced back to raise an eyebrow at her in confusion, he hummed quietly in response.

Shauna frowned as she nuzzled into his back, sighing, "Seeya later." She mumbled, pouting slightly.

Tsume sighed at her and turned around to face her, causing her to blink at him in surprise. He leaned down and placed his hand on her chin, leaning closer to her face with a smirk. Her face steadily got redder and her heart sped up, much to his amusement. He noticed her eyes slowly close as he got closer, but instead of kissing her, he pulled away with a smug smirk, "Seeya."

Shauna squeaked and blinked in surprise when he left, and she whined, "T-That wasn't fair!" She called after him with a pout, chewing her lip with a red face.

That damn _jerk._


	2. Chapter 2

_**I was gonna wait until I had written more to start uploading but I couldn't wait. Enjoy~**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain... sadly.**_

* * *

It had been at least a month or so now that Shauna moved and settled into this new place. It took some getting used to, as she was still a rookie when it came to behaving like a werewolf, but she enjoyed it. She liked it here, and she felt rather content. She expected it to be a colder place, and while yes it is literally cold due to the snowy landscape, she got a warm welcome from the people. Immediately she had noticed that there wasn't a single human in the small town, they were all werewolves. Somehow, it felt right. It felt like... a pack.

Everyone seemed to like her straight away. She was surprised at this, after all, all she got back at her hometown was distaste and she was shunned. Here, they welcomed her. Everyone was so nice to her, it made her feel wanted.

The only one that didn't seem to like her, was the Alpha, Max. He was a terrifying man; he was at least six feet, and very muscular. His very aura screamed authority, and just looking at him, made you _never_ want to mess with him.

Shauna didn't know what exactly his problem was, but she always felt nervous around the Alpha. She could tell he didn't want her around, but was overruled due to everyone else taking a shining to her, especially Toboe who was ecstatic about her joining their pack. How exactly do you go against the wishes of a young pup?

Tsume told her not to worry about it, that he was generally cold to newcomers regardless and that it would take some time for him to trust her. The fact that she's not a pure werewolf by birth probably added to the distrust also.

The town itself was actually quite beautiful. The pack was large, so in turn the town was large to house everyone. Shauna was actually surprised how energetic and upbeat this town really was; considering Tsume lived here, it wasn't hard to figure out why she thought it would be... boring.

"You're the new girl, aren't you?" A light voice called from behind her, causing her to jump slightly and turn around. She faced a woman slightly older than herself, with tanned skin and deep green eyes. Her hair was dark brown, almost black in certain lighting, and it was cut above her shoulders with a neat side fringe. She was wearing a green dress with long sleeves, and the most notable thing about her was her swollen stomach.

Shauna blinked at her, "Um... yeah, hi..." She had to admit, this woman was _very_ pretty...

The woman smiled gently at her, holding out her hand, "My name is Mei... You're Tsume's girl, aren't you?"

Blushing at being called that, she slowly nodded, "Uh... I suppose so..." She tilted her head, "I'm Shauna..."

Mei smiled in amusement, "Sorry, did I embarrass you?" She laughed lightly, causing the younger girl's face to redden even more. She shook her head and placed her hand on her swollen stomach, "Don't be. I was just as embarrassed when I first became Max's mate... It'll sink in..."

Shauna blinked, "You're Max's mate?" She paused, then shrieked, "Wait mate?! Isn't that basically the same as _marriage_?!"

The older woman blinked in confusion at her, "Hm? You two haven't become mates already? I thought you-" She started to laugh loudly, "I'm sorry, but, I didn't think you two would still be so _innocent._ "

Shauna's face possibly went on fire, "W-What do you mean by that?"

Mei's eyes glinted and she smiled, "Ah, nothing, nothing..." She cleared her throat, before calming down, "So, how are you settling in? I heard you only recently became a werewolf... Brave decision.."

The blonde nodded slowly at that, "Oh, yeah, yeah that's right... It wasn't much of a decision, to be honest, I kinda just... Was fed up with my life as it had stood so I wanted to change it." She rubbed her head sheepishly, "I probably sound selfish don't I?"

"Not at all," She smiled, "You took charge of your life... I respect that, not many people choose to turn... especially when it comes to love. You must really love him, hmm?"

Shauna's face went red once more, "W-Well I-"

"Mei, why are you speaking to the new girl? You should be resting." The bossy tone of the Alpha made Shauna shrink back slightly, instinctively. Mei, however, sighed in annoyance.

"Max, don't be so mean," She frowned, "I've had plenty of rest... And it's important we make her feel welcomed, is it not?"

Max's eyes narrowed at Shauna and she frowned. The man was terrifyingly large; he had dark chocolate brown hair with golden brown eyes that were narrowed. His skin was a tanned golden brown sort of colour, defiantly not the ashy, almost coffee coloured dark skin Tsume had. Shauna defiantly liked Tsume's more...

Feeling nervous under his glare, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, not exactly sure what she should do. Should she bow? Salute? She had no idea whatsoever, and she felt panic rising.

Feeling Shauna's nerves, Mei turned to her mate and frowned, "How is everything at the borders?"

Max's eyes immediately softened when they looked at her and this relieved Shauna from his piercing eyes, to which she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He nodded stiffly, "Everything seems fine... It's been rather quiet lately, thankfully..."

Mei smiled, "Well, that's a good sign then isn't it?" She turned to Shauna and smiled, "I should show you the nicer spots sometime. See you." She waved a hand and then hooked her arm around Max's, who grunted and turned away.

Shauna blinked and watched as they walked off, and she frowned slightly. Why did she feel oddly out of place?

* * *

The remainder of the day was quiet. The sun was setting, and she didn't feel like going home until Tsume got back from patrols; which wouldn't be for another hour or so. Sighing, she visited the nearby coffee shop and bought herself a cup mug of hot chocolate, trying to warm herself up in the cold frosty weather. She put the lid on the cup and sighed, stepping outside once again.

Just as she was leaving the coffee shop, she bumped into someone and yelped, stumbling backwards. She flinched slightly, "Agh, dammit, sorry." She stumbled over her words as she expected to be yelled at, but instead she heard a soft giggle.

"Oh don't worry about it, happens to us all." A young woman, a few years older than her, smiled warmly at the younger werewolf. Her hair was a light mouse brown colour, her skin was fair and her eyes were a beautiful orange-gold. She had a very gentle aura, and being next to her put the blonde at ease.

Shauna relaxed slightly and rubbed her neck, "Ah, yeah, happens to me a bit too often it seems..." She smiled.

The woman laughed lightly, "Awe, that's a shame," She grinned, eyes twinkling. She extended her hand, "My name is Kyoko. And you are?"

Shauna blinked, hesitantly shaking the woman's hand, "Shauna... The 'new girl', as everyone's calling me."

Kyoko gasped, "Oh! You're Tsume's girlfriend aren't you?" She pouted, "I wonder why I didn't recognize you sooner... Aw you're so adorable!"

Shauna felt herself blush, being mentioned as Tsume's girlfriend twice today was enough but then to be called cute? "W-What?"

Kyoko smiled, "Tsume spoke about you a lot, before he left and brought you here... He was in bits having to leave you behind." She crossed her arms, "He's told me about you and your situation with Rex, and on behalf of this pack, I apologize for one of our members to have acted in such a selfish way." She frowned, "I hope you're alright now, though..."

"Oh, I'm alright..." She smiled back, "Don't worry. I've gotten over it..."

The older woman wriggled her eyebrows cheekily, "Has Tsume 'helped' you?"

Shauna shrieked, "W-What do you mean by that exactly?!"

"Oh, nothing, nothing~." She laughed.

"Kyoko, quit teasing her. She's not good with that kind of stuff." Tsume's irritated voice made the two girls jump slightly and turn to face him, where he stood with his hand in his pockets and an unamused look on his face, an eyebrow perked.

Kyoko pouted, "Tsume, you're no fun, I was only having some friendly banter." She smiled, "How can I resist, you guys are adorable together."

Tsume rolled his eyes at her, "Tch..." He shook his head and walked over to where the blonde stood, face red.

Shauna blinked and scratched her cheek, confused and a little embarrassed. Her face grew warmer when his arm slung around her shoulder in an almost lazy fashion, and her blush only darkened when he pulled her closer to his chest.

Tsume grunted and waved a hand, "We should get going, it's late. See you around Kyoko." He turned and pulled Shauna along who yelped, blinking. She looked behind and waved at Kyoko who smiled back.

"Alright, see you both tomorrow!"

* * *

When they stepped inside the house Tsume sighed tiredly, taking off his jacket and tossing it on the couch. Instantly he went to the kitchen to get some food, while Shauna followed and sat at the table, humming.

"You and Kyoko seem friendly, I never thought you'd let someone call you adorable!" She laughed.

Tsume made a face, "She... is an exception."

Shauna blinked and tilted her head, "Why's that?"

He sighed, "She's a family friend, of sorts I suppose... She's been through a lot, the same as myself. It doesn't really bother me if she said something." He shrugged and sat down at the table, placing a plate of food in front of him.

Nodding slowly, she reached over to steal some of his food casually, to which she ignored his angry glare, "She's so pretty... but, she seems... sad almost... Do you know why?"

Tsume paused for a moment and sat back, sighing, "Because Kyoko was Yuudai's mate... and she's still struggling to get over his dead like I am."

Shauna's eyes widened and she frowned, "Oh... I see..." She frowned, suddenly feeling a little bit guilty now. She glanced downwards and sighed, the poor woman. She wouldn't know what to do if she were in her situation, and it was Tsume that was-

A hand reached over and rested against her cheek, making her look at a pair of golden eyes. Tsume looked at her blankly and sighed, rubbing his thumb to her cheek, "Don't think about it... She'll be okay. And I'll be okay. Got it? Quit looking depressing, that's my thing." He pulled on her cheek which made her yelp.

"Ow, you ass, that _huuurts_!" She slapped his hand away and pouted at him, face going red.

He only smirked back at her and rolled his eyes, resuming eating as the atmosphere around them instantly returning to the pleasant and relaxed as it usually did.

Shauna leaned back and smiled, so maybe it would take some time to gain the trust of Max, but so far, she was enjoying this new life in this town. What could possibly go wrong for her now?

Oh, _everything_.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A bit shorter than I'd have liked, but nonetheless a chapter to get things moving along. I'm so excited, I have so many things planned for this fic. Also I'm glad I published this while I'm on Halloween break; gives me pleeeenty of time to update! ^^**_

 _ **Disclaimer; Nope, still don't own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

Being woken up by your boyfriend would normally be alright for some people. Unless, your boyfriend was Tsume. And you were Shauna, who _hated_ mornings with a passion. So when he shook her awake, he had learned quickly to move away before he got punched in the nose; something he had to learn the hard way.

With an annoyed groan she opened her eyes and glared at him, "What? Why are you waking me up?"

Tsume shrugged and sighed, "The runt called, said he wants to ask ya something I'm not allowed know about." He made a face, "So get up, don't keep the kid waiting or he'll end up coming here, and that'll annoy me."

Shauna groaned again, "Urgh, Toboe's _so_ lucky he's so cute." She mumbled in annoyance, smacking Tsume with a pillow, "I'll be up in a minute."

Growling at being smacked, he reluctantly left the room and shut the door, annoyed at being hit by a pillow. Rolling his eyes, he turned and went down to the kitchen.

Grumbling at having to actually get up, Shauna sighed and rolled out of bed, dragging herself over to the mirror. She actually flinched at her own reflection, grimacing, "Eugh..." She rubbed her eyes and tiredly grabbed the hairbrush, attempting to tame the nest that she called hair.

It took about half an hour, but she eventually made her way down the stairs. She yelped when she got thrown an apple, an annoyed Tsume looking at her, "That took _way_ too long," He growled out, "That's your breakfast, you don't have time for anything else. Go."

Shauna whined, "But, but... I _hate_ fruit!" She whined childishly, sticking out her bottom lip as she looked at the apple in distaste.

Tsume snorted, "Well, tough. Just eat it on your way, I do _not_ want Toboe ringing me asking why you didn't show up." He glared at her.

Shauna pouted, "Hmph, ya know sometimes, I feel like ya care more for Toboe more than you do for me!" She whined at him childishly, sticking out her bottom lip.

He rolled his eyes, "Wonder what gave that away." He grumbled drily, "You gonna go now?"

"Wow," She snorted, "Really feeling the love." She made a face and pouted at him, "Don't I get a goodbye kiss or something?"

Tsume rose an eyebrow, "What? Are you stupid?"

"Way to make a girl feel special."

Huffing, he got up and walked over, "So annoying," He growled and pulled her into his chest, pressing his lips to hers in a possessive manner. She blushed at the sudden action but didn't complain, grinning in satisfaction. She gave a squeak and pulled back when he bit down on her lip, a smug expression on his face, "Be careful what you wish for."

"You prick!"

"Yeah yeah," He smirked and turned her around, pushing her towards the door, "Complain to me later."

Shauna whined at that, "Hmph! Fine, if you're _so_ eager to get rid of me." She rolled her eyes and walked out, her face still red from the kiss.

* * *

"You took _forever_!"

Shauna rubbed her ears as Toboe whined loudly at her, she made a face, "Yeah, sorry. I didn't really want to get up." She said bluntly, before raising an eyebrow, "Tsume mentioned something about you wanting to talk to me about some stuff?"

The pup blinked and nodded, blushing slightly which made Shauna's eyebrows raise, "Ah, yeah, I um... I wanna know how to impress a girl!"

Shauna stared at him with wide eyes, "You? Want to... impress a girl? Oh my god..." She burst out laughing, "Toboe, you're so cute and innocent! I never thought you'd have your eyes on someone~." She cooed, reaching out to pull his cheek gently.

Swatting her hand, he flushed a bright red, "I-I'm not a kid!" He whined at her, pouting, "You can see why I didn't wanna ask Tsume about this..."

"Yeah, cause he'll tell you to go kill someone and bring back their head on a spike." She joked, grinning.

Toboe frowned, "I know that's supposed to be a joke but... it's something he would actually say..."

"... True."

He pouted, "I'm serious, though..."

Shauna smiled at him, "Awwe, cute." She sat down, "So, who is she then?"

"S-Sky," He rubbed his cheek, "She's with the healing group..." He blushed, "I was told by some others that I should try acting cool but-"

"Nope, absolutely not," She scoffed, "Toboe, I'm sorry, but being 'cool' is not _you_. You're adorable, and you're sweet. Don't go doing something that's out of character, if you do then you're just being fake. Don't listen to men, they only think with their d-"

"I don't want to know what you're about to say!"

Shauna grinned cheekily, "Oops. But seriously, none of that 'cool guy' act." She hummed for a moment, before grinning, "Does she like flowers?"

Toboe's eyes lit up, "Yeah, she loves them! Especially those pink flowers with the black dots on the petals?"

Shauna snorted, "Kid I know _nothing_ about flowers, but you do, so let's go collect some."

Toboe pouted, "But... the flowers that grow are a bit ways outside the pack territory, will it be safe?"

"We're going to pick _flowers_ , not conquer new land. We won't be out there long enough to get attacked will we?" She smirked, "Don't you trust me?"

The pup blinked and nodded, "Okay, I'm sure it'll be alright!" He grinned.

Shauna smirked, "Good. Now c'mon, let's go get you a laaaady friend."

"D-Don't say that!"

* * *

 _Meanwhile_

"M-Max, Max it's bad!"

Golden brown eyes lifted to see the younger wolf run towards him, a panicked look on his face, "What is it?"

The male panted when he reached them and frowned, his eyes wide with fear, "T-There's been a report," He panted, "At the border... One of our guards were severely injured, we don't know if they'll survive.."

Max's eyes widened and he instantly straightened, "By who? Who caused it?"

"We don't know Sir," He responded, "But according to the reports, it was one single enemy, and they were faster than anything we've ever seen before..."

Mei glanced at Max with concern, watching as his brows furrowed in anger, "Max...? What do you think it is?"

He shook his head, "I bet it's just a rival pack, trying to screw with us... We all know how greedy and sly the smaller packs have gotten lately, it's been all over the net..." He growled slightly, "For now, we don't know _who_ we're dealing with. Don't let anyone outside the border, for now it's too dangerous."

The wolf nodded and turned, running off to deliver the message to the other guards. Max sighed and sat down, looking at Mei with a grim expression. She frowned and leaned over, wrapping her arms around him for comfort, and he sighed as he pressed a kiss to her forehead gently.

"I have a very bad feeling about this..."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Okay so not my proudest chapter, but I honestly don't know how else I could approach this. Sorry if it's not up to standard, but oh well._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

Shauna smirked in amusement as she watched Toboe skip ahead of her, her eyebrow perked at the hyper mood the pup had. She could never understand where he got the energy from, maybe it was just a pup thing, but she herself was lazy as hell. She stretched and looked up, "Oh, it's snowing..." She blinked at the sky.

Toboe looked back and grinned, "It always snows!"

"It's been so long..." She smiled fondly, sighing, "I missed the snow..."

"Did you live in a snowy region before?" He asked, head tipped to the side in question.

Nodding, she smiled, "When I was a little girl. I was born in a town that's covered in snow, like this one, only I remember blizzard's were very common. My brother and I would bomb the other people in town with snowballs, it was hilarious..." She closed her eyes, "I'd love to go back and visit that place..."

"How come ya left?" He blinked in curiosity, "If you liked it so much... You didn't like where you were before you came here."

Shauna smiled, "My father got a job and he had to move closer to the work place," She explained, "So we lived in that white house for the remainder of our time together... but it wasn't the same, none of us were actually happy..." She closed her eyes, shaking her head quickly, "Oi, why are we talking about this? We're trying to get you a girlfriend."

Toboe blinked at her and nodded slowly, before blushing, "W-Wait I'm n-not-"

"Yeah yeah, c'mon then." She laughed and took off down the snowy hill, deciding to shift into her wolf form for a change, as she never really spent much time in it and it seemed like an appropriate time to experiment in her new form. After all, there was snow everywhere; why wouldn't it be an appropriate time? Being a wolf gave her an excuse to roll around in the snow, and she was _so_ going to abuse that privilege.

Toboe blinked at her and shook his head, amused. And she called _him_ the pup... He blinked again and burst into laughter when he saw the black furred shewolf stuck in a pile of snow, with only her back legs sticking out, "P-Pfft! Shauna, you look so stupid!"

A muffled growl emitted from the pile, "Shut up Toboe, help me out here!" She yelled at him, though it was hard to be afraid of someone who was upside down... stuck in snow.

Toboe snickered, "Okay okay, I-"

Shauna's blood ran cold when she heard the pup give a sudden yelp of either pain or surprise, she wasn't exactly sure which one. Regardless, it was bad, and she struggled against the snow with more aggression. "Toboe, what's happening?!"

"W-Who are you?!" She heard the pup yell, and then an unfamiliar voice could be heard giggling.

"Oh my, you're such a cute little guy!" A female, by the sounds of it, and she sounded young.

Sounds of movement were heard after that, and then Toboe suddenly yelled out, "Shauna help!"

Panicking now, she managed to free herself from the snow and fell back, whirling around to see what was happening. A young woman, who had short red hair that stopped just below her ears and curled around her face, was stepping towards Toboe who seemed pale and afraid. Shauna snarled, "Get away from him!" She snapped, and this caused the woman to turn around and narrow her eyes. Almost immediately, Shauna froze.

Her eyes were a blood red colour, and instead of a normal round pupil, they were slits similar to a cats. She had a hungry expression and when she grinned, sharp canines could be seen glinting in the sun, "Do you wanna play too?"

Shauna snarled and braced herself as the woman shot towards her, though she was not prepared for how fast she was. She gasped, barely blocking punches from her, and gave a yelp when she received a kick to the stomach. Falling to the ground, she just about managed to roll to the side, luckily avoiding a fist which slammed into the snow next to her. Jumping to her feet, she growled as she threw a punch forward, but unfortunately the woman was too fast and she missed, which caused her to get punched in the stomach instead.

Coughing, she collapsed to her knees and winced, that punch was stronger than she had expected. Winded, she held her stomach, gritting her teeth.

"Not very talented," The woman smirked, "But more fun than I had anticipated... You seem strong, but at the same time, reckless." She reached out and grabbed her hair, causing a snarl to rip from her throat in protest, "You'll do nicely..."

"Shauna!" Toboe yelled out in panic, grabbing the woman's attention long enough for Shauna to attack. Tackling her to the ground, she shifted into her wolf form and dug her fangs into her shoulder, biting down as a protective instinct took control of her. The woman screamed in pain and thrashed, her nails slicing Shauna's side and dying her black fur a dark red colour. Gasping from the pain, the wolf loosened her grip, and this was her mistake as she was thrown off with ease.

Gripping her heavily bleeding shoulder, the woman rose to her feet and growled, "You stupid _dog_ ," She gritted her teeth and stepped towards Shauna, who brought up her human form again. Toboe watched from a distance, his eyes wide and panic rising. What should he do?

The woman gasped in surprise when something hit her head. It did no damage at all, but it made her turn around and growl at Toboe, who yelped and instantly regretted his decision to help, "You'll be an appetiser." She hissed, before walking towards the pup.

Toboe gave a loud squeak, "W-Wait, no, I-I didn't mean it!" He stepped back and gasped as he tripped, landing in the soft snow and gulping as she stood over him, red eyes flashing. He didn't realize what had happened until he felt all of his energy leaving his body, and he suddenly became a lot colder. Falling to the ground he winced slightly, his vision blurred but he hadn't lost it all yet.

Regaining her composure after struggling to stop being dizzy, Shauna finally took in the situation after seeing the woman hurt Toboe. Vision going red, she snarled and ran towards her, grabbing her hair and shoving her face into the snow, "What did you do?!"

The woman didn't seem too fazed by this; in fact, she _laughed_ , "You werewolves are so reckless, it's hilarious!" She rolled over and kicked Shauna in the stomach, making her wince and stumble back, before she got punched in the jaw.

Cursing with the pain in her jaw, she slowly sat up, only to get grabbed by the collar of her shirt. Her eyes met the blood red of the woman, and she suddenly lost all fighting spirit and it was replaced by pure fear, "What are you...?"

Grinning widely, her eyes glinted, " _We're_ the superior creatures."

That was all that was said, before she blacked out completely.

* * *

Tsume narrowed his eyes, the moon was beginning to rise and Shauna hadn't gotten back yet. She left early this morning, and it wasn't exactly something that should take all day. He had a bad feeling and it only got worse when his phone went off, and it was not Shauna's number.

He frowned seeing it was Kyoko, and he answered, "What is it?"

"T-Tsume, it's bad!"

He sat up, panic starting to seep in but he kept a level head, "Kyoko, calm down. What's happened?"

"Toboe and Shauna... they were attacked just outside the border, they're in the medical centre right now; you have to get down here!"

Tsume's eyes widened.

 _Shit_.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Updates have gotten a little slow, I'm sorry. School work has smothered me lately, and the few days I feel productive I can't think of what to write. I hope to speed up the updates, but who knows, we'll have to see how my school work goes.**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

The beeping sounds were the first thing she heard when she finally regained consciousness. Her mistake was that she opened her eyes too quickly, and the blinding light above her made her growl out in protest. Everything ached, and she felt as if she had been hit by a train at full speed. She slowly pulled herself up and reached up to touch her forehead, which felt like it was burning. She narrowed her eyes to try and remember what had happened, but everything was just a blur. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair, which was down instead of in a typical ponytail.

The door opened with a creak and she couldn't help but wince at the sound. Looking up, she saw it was Tsume standing at the door, his eyes widening a little upon realizing that she was awake. Seeing him made her smile weakly, and he made his way to her side immediately. "You're finally awake..."

She nodded, "Yeah... How long was I out for?"

"Over two weeks." He muttered, sitting next to her, "How do you feel?"

Shauna frowned, "Over two weeks? Jeez..." She sighed, "I feel weak and lightheaded... But alive."

Tsume ran his hand through her hair gently, causing her to close her eyes and lean against his chest. He sighed, "You nearly died," He muttered, "Blood loss nearly killed you..."

Shauna winced at this information, then blinked and sat up, "W-What about Toboe? He was with me, is he-"

"He's fine," Tsume placed a hand on her shoulder, "He didn't suffer as much, he was up within a day... He hadn't lost as much blood, just a few minor injuries."

She relaxed instantly hearing this, and she breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God," She mumbled, "I was worried.."

"He was the one worrying," He snorted slightly at her, "He thought you were going to die. Kept blaming himself, saying he should have done more to help."

Shauna frowned, "He did more than enough..." She shook her head, wincing slightly.

He placed a kiss to her head and sighed, "You need to rest. You look like shit."

She smirked weakly at that, "How charming..." She didn't protest against the idea of rest, after all, she did feel like she was going to pass out anyway.

Only ten seconds after closing her eyes, she heard Tsume growl lowly and the door opening. Opening her eyes slightly, she couldn't help but tense up seeing the Alpha at the door.

"How is she?" The rough voice of Max almost rumbled in the room. Talk about a terrifying guy..

"Exhausted, she needs rest." Tsume growled back, "Don't strain her."

"All I want is to ask a few questions." The older wolf responded, remaining calm despite the younger werewolf's hostility.

Not convinced, Tsume's arm tightened slightly around the blonde and he pulled her closer to him, scowling at his Alpha as his instincts did nothing else but tell him to protect her.

Frowning at the tension, Shauna looked up at Tsume, "Hey, could you get me some water...? Please." She asked, causing him to look at her with a frown. Obviously sensing his doubt, she frowned, "I was out for over two weeks, like you said... my throat feels dryer than sandpaper."

He still felt like this was just a distraction, but he sighed in irritation regardless, "Fine..." He mumbled, standing up and shooting Max a glare, before he reluctantly left the room.

Max turned to Shauna, who flinched slightly at his gaze, "Now, first of all... what were the two of you doing going past the border?"

Shauna frowned and looked down, "... Toboe wanted to go get some flowers... I agreed to go with him." She frowned, "It was my fault, I insisted we went out."

The Alpha sighed, "I'm not here to scold you for it... Actually, I want you to tell me about what happened... Who was it that attacked you?"

At this, Shauna rose an eyebrow, "... Did Toboe not tell you everything you needed?"

Max sighed, "Unfortunately the pup was in too much shock to remember much. All he could tell us was that it was a red haired woman."

She nodded, "Yeah, she had red hair... She was really pale, too..." She frowned, trying to remember, "Oh, she had red eyes. And was incredibly fast, I could barely see her before she attacked."

Max's eyes widened slightly, "... Those wounds... How did they happen? Try to remember."

Shauna sighed, trying to remember despite her fatigue. It took her a moment before she gave a small gasp, "She _bit_ me."

The Alpha flinched slightly, "And... You're _absolutely_ sure that's all?"

She nodded, "Yeah, that's everything I can remember..."

A grim expression washed over his face and he nodded stiffly, "Alright. I'll let you rest then." He stood up and made his way to the door, walking out and closing it behind him.

Before he left, he noticed Tsume coming back and he grabbed his arm before he could go back into the room, "Tsume, keep an eye on her... It appears that we're fighting an old enemy..."

Tsume frowned at his Alpha as he walked away, confused as to what he meant but he didn't dwell on it, walking into the room.

* * *

"Shauna! You're okay!" Toboe cried out happily as he threw his arms around the female in a hug. He whined and buried his head in his shoulder, "I thought you'd die!"

Shauna hugged him back with a smile, "Calm down, I'm fine, still kicking." She ran a hand through his hair gently to soothe him, "Are you okay?"

Toboe nodded, rubbing his eyes, "Yeah... But nobody else is..." He frowned.

Tsume twitched, "Toboe-"

Shauna frowned, "No wait, what's he talking about?"

Sighing slightly at this, Tsume turned to look at her with a slightly grim expression, "You weren't the only ones who got attacked..." He muttered, "Many others had gotten attacked as well, mainly the guards who were out patrolling the borders..." He winced slightly, "... None of them woke up."

She blinked and stared at him, "... You mean they all... _died_?"

Tsume nodded stiffly, "Unfortunately... That was why Max was so intent on getting information, nobody else really knows what's happened..."

This information made her feel sick, and she found herself sinking into the bed slightly, as if trying to escape. She rolled over onto her side and curled up a little, her stomach churning with the fact that others had died at the hands of someone she faced. She could have died, _again_ , and it was nothing short of a miracle that she survived. Red eyes flashed in her mind and she flinched slightly, shivering, "I.. need to rest..." She mumbled.

Tsume and Toboe both shared a glance, before Tsume sighed, "Sure... I'll come back later..." He placed a hand on her head gently, before standing up, "C'mon kid."

Toboe frowned, "Get well soon Shauna." He mumbled sadly before he followed the older werewolf, exiting the building.

When the door closed, she found herself staring at the wall opposite her in thought. How close was she to dying? How close was she to losing everything all over again?

A growl rumbled in her throat. She was getting _real_ sick of this shit.

* * *

Kiba glanced up as he noticed his Alpha approach him. Instantly, he felt on edge upon seeing the pale face and the look of fear in his eyes. He sat up and straightened to greet him, a form of respect, and Max stopped in front of him, "Is there any news on who did this?" The younger werewolf asked hesitantly, not really knowing if he should ask or not.

Max rubbed his face, "There's no denying it anymore... I wanted to believe that there was no possible way but... it's unfortunately what's happening..."

Kiba perked an eyebrow at him in question, not exactly sure what he was getting at, "What is..?"

The Alpha looked at him, eyes shadowed with a look of despair,

"Vampires are back."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Not entirely happy with this chapter, but I've changed it so many times so I figured this was the best it was going to get. Sorry if it's not up to standard.**_

 ** _Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain_**

* * *

The whole town was in chaos.

The news that vampires had returned quickly spread, and almost immediately everyone flew into a panic. All sense was lost as the villagers had no idea what they should do, and a real upset spread across the town.

Frankly, Tsume was annoyed with it. Actually, he was annoyed with everything.

A few days rolled by since Shauna woke up, and she had now been released from hospital. Almost immediately, she was bombed with question after question about the attack. Clearly not able to handle the situation, the blonde had a panic attack, and if it weren't for Tsume she would have lost it and bolted. He quickly brought her home, though he growled the entire way about how annoying this town was, and he strictly told her to rest. Trying to at least seem normal, Shauna weakly teased him about being a "mother bear". Usually, he'd snap at her for it, but he could see straight away that she was shaken up from the recent events.

Currently, she sat on the couch, shaking slightly and holding a cup of coffee in her hands, taking a hesitant sip from time to time. Tsume watched her with concerned eyes, though he didn't press for any answers. If she wanted to talk, she would have opened her mouth by now, but she clearly needed time to register everything.

An uneasy hour of silence passed before she finally spoke to him, but the topic was far from pleasant, "So... would have been nice to know vampires existed as well..."

Tsume sighed, "I didn't know they were still around, truthfully," He frowned, leaning back, "They disappeared over five hundred years ago... Something to do with the witches banishing them to the mountains... I'm not sure, my parents used to talk about it a lot..." He shrugged, "They didn't show up for centuries, so everyone just assumed they became extinct like the witches."

Shauna frowned, "There were witches too...?" She sighed, "I never even thought about the possibility... I probably should have, after all, I never knew _werewolves_ existed... and now I am one..."

The male looked at her silently for a moment, before reluctantly voicing a question, "... Do you regret it?"

She instantly looked at him with a confused look, "What?"

"Turning," He grunted, "Coming here with me."

Shauna frowned, "What? No, of course I don't... I just..." She looked at her coffee, "It's... a lot to take in..." She shrugged, "For some reason I had assumed it would be much easier than this..."

Tsume narrowed his eyes, "... And what else?"

"W-What?"

"You're upset over _something_ , I'm not an idiot," He grumbled, "You don't have to tell me, but just know I can tell when something's up."

Amused at his attempt to hide his concern through anger, she gave a small smile, "... Well, actually..." She sighed slightly, "I... Since the attack, I've just been feeling... rather pathetic," She gripped the cup weakly, "I've only been here for nearly three months now... and I've already been close to death twice."

Tsume scowled, "Neither was your fault-"

"Maybe, but that still doesn't mean that it's happened twice," She retorted, "Is there something wrong with me? Why am I always the center of trouble?"

He frowned at her and rubbed his head, not entirely sure how to answer that. Before he could speak, she stood up and winced slightly, "I'm going to bed..." She mumbled, walking off silently. Tsume narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave, before letting out a loud sigh of frustration.

Goddammit all...

* * *

 _That damn dream again._

 _It was very similar to before, only this time Yuudai was much more focused and less faded. Tsume winced and struggled to see through the howling wind, stepping forward to try and hear the words his brother was saying._

 _"Vampires... y... idiot!"_

 _Tsume made a face, of course one of the words he made out was an insult directed towards him. He hissed when the wind picked up, causing him to slide backwards until he regained his footing. He coughed and covered his mouth, eyes stinging with the sharp wind, "Yuudai!" He snarled to the wind, trying to contact his older brother somehow._

 _The wind separated for a brief moment, and Tsume's eyes widened. Yuudai stood there in front of him, as pale as a sheet and covered in his own blood. It was then the younger brother realized; this was the time of the crash... Only, he just realized something. Yuudai's neck was bleeding more than it should, considering he was involved in a car crash. Holes were in his neck, and he looked more drained of energy, or rather, blood._

 _The older brother reached out for his sibling, a pained look on his face as he uttered words that were clearer than crystal itself,_

 _"It wasn't an accident."_

Tsume woke up with a violent cough, as if the wind got trapped in his throat. Hissing in irritation, he glared around the room, only to find that it was empty and the sun was well up. He blinked, noticing how Shauna wasn't beside him at all. A crash could be heard in the kitchen and his instincts took control. Hurriedly, he made his way to the kitchen, only to find Shauna cursing quietly and picking up pieces of broken glass. Growling loudly, he caused her to freeze and look up, stopping what she was doing. He walked over and huffed, "You shouldn't go touching glass, you're not exactly full of blood right now remember," He grumbled, smacking her hands away from the glass lightly, picking them up himself. He ignored the sharp pieces cutting into his palms as he dumped them in the bin, before running his hands under the water to clean them.

Shauna blinked, "Ah, sorry... I forgot..." She frowned. She had been told that it would take a week or two for her body to fully recover from the effects of the vampire, though nobody was actually sure how long it would take. They didn't exactly have many records to guess it from, did they?

She looked at him with a perked eyebrow, "You seem pale. Did you have another nightmare?"

Tsume almost jumped at her question, though obviously he didn't because that would be out of his character. He turned to her with a frown, "... Is it that obvious?"

"Kinda," She frowned, "I've noticed you've been having odd dreams lately, after that one you had told me about..." She tilted her head, "Want to tell me about it?"

Pausing for a moment, he sighed and shook his head, "No, it's nothing to worry about." He made a face, "Why are you up? You should be resting."

The female gave a whine of protest, "I've done nothing _but_ rest! C'mon Tsume, I'm so bored sitting around for hours!"

Tsume sighed in annoyance, "Do I have to remind you that you just _barely_ survived an attack from a vampire? Keep in mind how lucky you are to be alive right now." He scowled.

Shauna flinched slightly at his tone and frowned, "Yeah... right..." She mumbled, feeling herself shrink slightly. He made a valid point; she was incredibly lucky to still be breathing, considering how much blood she lost. The fact that she was the only one who had been severely injured to have lived made her feel sick every single time.

Realizing that he unintentionally sounded rather harsh, he sighed and rubbed his head, "... I'm not working today," He muttered, changing the subject, "I'm staying here. Normally I would suggest that we go somewhere, but, given the circumstances, I'd rather not..."

She instantly shook her head, "Nope, staying here is perfectly fine..." She sat down with a small wince, her body still ached a little.

Tsume watched her and heaved a sigh, "You should be in bed." He grumbled, standing up.

Pouting, she crossed her arms, "The bed hurt my back, I needed to stretch... If I don't leave the house I'll be fine..."

The man frowned at her slightly, about to say something but he thought about it at the last second and shut his mouth, deciding against it instead. He moved to the counter and sighed slightly.

Shauna leaned her chin on her palm, frowning slightly with half closed eyes, "Do you... think they'll come back...?" She asked hesitantly. She blinked when a cup of tea was placed in front of her, and she looked up to see Tsume sitting down and sighing.

"Maybe..." He mumbled, rubbing his neck, "I'm not sure what the hell they're after, but those attacks weren't just for show..."

Shauna bit her lip, "Do you think that... something big is about to happen...?"

Tsume looked at her, before he clicked his tongue and looked outside the window, watching the snow fall to the ground slowly.

"Yeah... Defiantly."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Okay, okay, this chapter I'm alright with. It's moving the story forward, anyways, which is what I wanted. Didn't expect to get it done an hour after the last, though...**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

Something was defiantly wrong with Shauna. Not physically, she's actually recovered quite fast from the vampires attack, and was able to move around freely now. However, what was wrong seemed to be more of a... mental issue.

She was _terrified_ of leaving the house. And Tsume couldn't blame her. After all, she had been thrown into the world of the supernatural too fast for her body to actually adjust. Hell, she _just about_ learned how to be a werewolf, and she still had lots more to learn. But now there were vampires involved? He was amazed she hadn't broken down by now.

Every attempt he made to try and coax her from the house had failed, and by now he was getting a little frustrated. He did understand her fear, he really did; but staying inside all the time wasn't healthy. She refused to even go for a simple walk, too afraid that she'd get attacked once more.

And she wasn't the only one.

Ever since the news of the attacks spread around, the townspeople were petrified. The street suddenly became much quieter, and people only left their houses to do basic shopping or something else that couldn't be avoided. Nobody wanted to be outdoors, and for a werewolf, the outdoors was home.

It was completely understandable, to an extent. After all, many guards had lost their lives due to one girl. _One_. She ended the lives of so many, previously thought _machines_ of men, within a few hours. It was hard to believe, and it was feared that if more vampires appeared, the entire town would be wiped out.

Tsume was irritated by all of it. The town suddenly became boring and tense, and he hated it. Max hadn't said a word about it, for he too was very tense about the situation and more focused on protecting his mate, who was still heavily pregnant.

He glanced over at the couch where the blonde girl lay, simply watching the television, buried under a warm fuzzy blanket. Sighing in annoyance, he stood up and walked over to her, "Shauna, get up."

She hummed slightly, not even listening to him, "Why?" She asked blankly, eyes still locked on the screen.

Twitching, he stepped in front of the TV, arms crossed, "You've been lying there for days, it's time you got up and did something."

Shauna made a face, "Why?" She glared at him and a growl sounded from his throat, causing him to be surprised at her sudden anger, "I feel safe here. Going outside is pointless, besides, it's cold out."

Tsume rolled his eyes, "Stop making excuses. Up." He scowled.

She growled back at him, "No."

"Shauna."

"I mean it, no."

"Stop being so damn childish!"

"I'm not the one being childish!"

The two werewolves growled angrily at each other, their glares practically crackling in the air. Suddenly, a knock on the door broke them from their thoughts and they both looked up. Tsume sighed and walked out to answer it, opening it up. He rose an eyebrow, "Hm? Why are you here, Kyoko?"

The woman frowned at him, "That's rather rude, speak to your elders a bit nicer please."

He rolled his eyes and stepped aside to let her in. She walked into the room and saw Shauna, who stood up with the blanket still wrapped around her. Kyoko frowned, "Hey Shauna, how are you feeling? I heard you haven't been yourself..."

Shauna glared at Tsume at first, but he shrugged as if to say that this wasn't his idea. She sighed and shook her head, "... Maybe I've been... a bit down..." She admitted sheepishly.

Kyoko sighed, then looked at the male, "Go make us some drinks or something, we need to chat."

Tsume twitched at being ordered about in his own home, but sighed in frustration and walked into the kitchen, taking the hint to leave.

Kyoko rested a hand on Shauna's shoulder as the two of them sat down, "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

Shauna looked down, "... Isn't it obvious? I'm _terrified._ You guys might be able to handle this situation, but, I'm still adjusting to being a werewolf and everything's mixing together in my head and, urgh." She leaned forward and put her hands on her head, gritting her teeth. She hated feeling like this; feeling _pathetic._

Kyoko smiled softly at her, rubbing her back soothingly, "It's completely fine to be afraid," She mumbled, "You're still thinking like a human, that's why. You need to allow yourself to ease into it."

Shauna frowned slightly and looked away, looking at her hands. She felt annoyed, for allowing herself to sink like this after one incident. She sighed and sank back into the couch, closing her eyes.

Kyoko rubbed her arm gently, "You shouldn't let something like this put you down okay?" She smiled, "I would stay for longer but I have to go to work... Take care." She stood up. The blonde gave her a small nod of appreciation, and the older woman made her way to the door.

She stopped and turned to Tsume, "Be careful with her, will you? She's fragile right now..." Before he could argue, she cut in, "I know the way you act. Things don't go _your_ way so you act with anger. Don't, be patient with her... She's traumatised by what happened." And with that, she walked out quickly.

Tsume frowned and sighed, he looked over at Shauna and ran a hand through his hair. _'Why did things get so complicated...'_

* * *

Max scowled as he crouched in the cold snow, touching the spot where the blood from one of the werewolves had dyed the snow a crimson colour. He was perfectly aware that being so far from the safety of the town was dangerous, but he had to search for.. for _something_ regarding the motive behind the attack. His sensitive ears picked up the sound of movement and he shot upright, growling as he looked around, his glowing eyes scanning the area.

"Now, now, now," A masculine voice taunted, before a male figure stepped out into the clearing, "Why on _earth_ is the Alpha Male wandering away from his pack? Don't you think that's rather dangerous?"

Max snarled angrily, "Who are you?"

The man smirked widely, revealing sharp canines, and causing the werewolf to gasp slightly, "I'm of a far more... superior species than the likes of you." The man looked quite old, and was dressed in a long trench coat and a dark coloured hat. His eyes were red and his pupils slit, like that of a cat. His skin was deathly pale, and his eyes flashed when he spoke.

A young woman walked up next to him, and she seemed much calmer. Her eyes, still the same blood red and slit pupils, were narrowed in shape and gave her a rather mean, almost disinterested look. Her hair was a deep purple colour, and covered her left eye completely. Like the man, her skin was a washed out colour, and she wore a fur coat to shield herself from the horrid weather.

Max growled, "... You're both vampires," He noted, narrowing his eyes, "What do you want? Shouldn't you be banished?"

The man smirked, "We are," He grinned, "But it's only now we've realized that we're technically still _in_ the mountain, just wavering on the borders of our imprisonment." He chuckled.

The werewolf growled loudly, "Did you send that woman to attack my pack mates? What was the meaning of all this?!"

"The answer is simple," the woman spoke up, "We've grown bored of having you _dogs_ as neighbours. Besides, we wanted to send a.. message."

"Message?"

"Indeed," She nodded, "We no longer wish to spend our days banished in the mountains. We _will_ prove ourselves to be the strongest species, and to do that, we need to eliminate you werewolves. Starting with this little pack up here in the mountain range..."

Max's eyes widened. _Eliminate?_ He felt himself change forms and he snarled, tail lashing and fur standing on edge, "As Alpha, it's my job to protect my pack. Now, either you leave, or will I be forced to make you?"

The man looked at the woman with a smirk, "I hate these courageously stupid fools. Heather, darling, would you like to take care of him for me?"

The woman, Heather, nodded, "Of course, Sir." She stepped forward with a blank expression, "I'd advise you to go home, mutt," She announced, "Or else I'll have no other option."

Clearly not listening to a word she said, Max lunged forward.

Heather sighed and her eyes flashed. _"So be it then."_

* * *

The night passed by without too much trouble for the pair, as they settled their disagreement from early and resorted to simply watching the TV. Shauna had, -at some point, he wasn't sure when exactly-, decided to rest her head on Tsume's chest, and was now fighting to stay awake. Tsume himself was content enough to shut his eyes, and he was giving into the temptation, only for a knock to be heard on the door.

Shauna blinked, "I'll get it." She yawned and stood up, rubbing her eyes as she sluggishly made her way to the door. However, once she opened it, she instantly snapped awake, "T-Toboe, what's the matter?"

A crying Toboe stood at the door, the poor pup was in an absolute wreck. His eyes were red and puffy, and he was shaking from standing in the freezing cold. Tsume, upon hearing the commotion, walked out and frowned, doing very bad in hiding his concern for the child.

A sob broke from Toboe's throat, before he cried out,

"Max is dying."


	8. Chapter 8

_**I wanted to update this a lot earlier, but I kinda lost motivation, and then I got sick.. But it's amazing what the Wolf's Rain Soundtrack can do. I swear, it will never not motivate me. Love that OST to bits...**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

The pack sat around the bed of the severely injured Alpha male, the moment of his death approaching rapidly as the clock ticked. His condition was terrifying, and no matter what the doctors did or tried, it changed nothing. The unfortunate fact was, that the Alpha male was about to die. And none of them could stop it.

Mei was in bits. Not only was she about to lose her mate, but her child would now be left without a father. She refused to let go of his hand, and her sobs weren't the only ones heard in the room.

Toboe and Sky, the youngest members of the pack, were affected heavily, for neither of them had parents, and it was Max who became the fatherly figure towards the two after he took them in. They both joined at different times, and Sky was considered the newer pup compared to Toboe, who had been here his entire life.

Sobs could be heard around the room, as each werewolf took turns to say goodbye to their leader with a heavy hearts. It was heartbreaking, really, to see their Alpha in such a state. He was always so strong, and fearless, and yet here he lay, awaiting death due to some vampires...

Tsume and Kiba stood next to his bed, as the two of them had always been at Max's side since the start. Tsume's brother, Yuudai, had been Max's best friend, and when he passed away Max took it upon himself to give Tsume the best chances possible. Now that the older werewolf was about to die, Tsume felt guilty that he hadn't lived up to those expectations, and felt as if he had failed.

Kiba felt the same. Having always been the one his Alpha went to for advice, he felt guilty in not realizing his motives. If he had, he could have stopped him from leaving the pack's borders, and as such prevented this from happening.

Regardless, Max felt no anger towards either. In fact, even on his deathbed, he surprised them even now.

"I have... an important request for you Kiba," He rasped tiredly, looking up at the blue eyed werewolf.

"What is it?"

"As you know my time is coming to an end," He coughed, "Therefore, when I pass, there will be no Alpha..." He paused for a moment, then continued, "Now it's not traditional, but I'm running out of time... so I must ask you; will you step up as this pack's next Alpha in my place?"

Now it's rare for Kiba to feel shocked; but this really caught him off guard.

"Are you sure I'm right for it?"

Max chuckled weakly, "I couldn't think of a more suitable successor..." He looked at the younger man with a small smirk, "You have the potential... And you won't be alone, everyone will help you along... Please, Kiba, I need to know I'm leaving this pack... With someone reliable to lead it..." He began to cough, covering his mouth as blood showed up on his palm.

Kiba took a few minutes to process the sudden request. He looked up and his eyes met Tsume's, as if asking for his opinion. In response, Tsume gave a small nod, nothing major or dramatic. He was still letting him make his own decision.

Taking one look around him, it was only now he realized how many werewolves were actually in this pack. He wasn't sure if he could lead the same way Max did, but with a small sigh he turned to Max again, "I'll do it..."

Max smiled, "... Thank you." The older werewolf started to cough again, and this made them all flinch. After his coughing fit ended, he reached out and put his hand over Tsume's, grabbing the scarred wolf's attention, ".. It I had only listened to your brother... None of this would have happened..."

Tsume tensed and stared at him, "What do you mean?"

"Yuudai... He had warned me about vampires starting to appear... But I, in my arrogance, refused to believe him... I take responsibility for his death..." He closed his eyes and took a breath, "If I had just listened... I wouldn't be here on this bed, and Yuudai would still be alive..."

Tsume's eyes widened, and he went completely silent. Not sure how to handle the new information given, he simply said nothing. Nobody expected him to say anything, and Max let his hand go.

His eyes scanned the room until he landed on a certain blond, "Shauna, come here.."

Surprised at being called out of the blue, she walked over hesitantly with a frown, "Y-Yeah...?"

The Alpha looked at her with an unusual, soft expression that she had never seen directed at her before. He sighed, "I treated you unfairly, and I apologize for it..." He frowned, "You didn't deserve that. You've proven yourself to be a strong werewolf of this pack... The fact that you survived a vampire attack despite everyone else, including me, having lost to it.. Proves there must be something special about you." He put a hand on her arm gently, "I don't know what it is. But the Spirits are on your side... They believe in you."

Shauna frowned slightly, "The... Spirits?"

Kyoko stepped forward, "I'll explain about them some other time, Shauna..." She turned, "I think it's only fair that we leave the Alpha pair to depart in peace, so can I ask everyone to now leave..." She looked at the tearful Mei, "I'm so sorry, Mei..." She bowed one last time to her Alpha, "Thank you for leading us all this time. I say that on behalf of the pack. You will... be dearly missed, my friend."

Max closed his eyes, his energy fading, "... Thank you all for putting your faith in me... It was an honour to be your Alpha..."

Tsume sighed and put an arm around Shauna, "Come on, let's go." He mumbled. He tapped Toboe to let him know they were going, and the pup nodded slightly, tugging on Sky's arm and reluctantly they turned away from the dying werewolf.

The mood was heavy within the pack, and that night, the howls of mourning echoed throughout the mountain, saying one last goodbye to the great Alpha wolf.

* * *

The rain for many people made the already depressing week even more depressing, but for Shauna, it gave her comfort. She sat up on the window sill, her knees pulled up to her chest as she watched the rain fall into puddles on the concrete. Her eyes were half closed but she was nowhere near sleeping, the heavy crushing that weighed on her heart preventing that.

Tsume wasn't even in the room, yet somehow he sensed something was wrong. He sighed and walked into the living room, handing the blonde a cup of tea which she took gratefully. Sitting down on the arm of the sofa, Tsume watched her with concern, "What's up with you?"

She frowned, "Sorry?"

"You've been gloomy all day, and normally the rain would have you smiling. So go on, what's wrong?" He frowned, "I know it's not Max's death that has you so down..."

Shauna glanced down at her cup, "I dunno... it's just... Everyone else... they all died from these vampire attacks and yet..." She gripped the cup, her eyes narrowing.

Tsume already knew what she was trying to say, "And yet you wonder why you survived?" He guessed.

She only nodded silently, glancing out at the rain again.

Sighing, he looked at the ceiling, "You could try and wonder about it all you want, but I don't think you're going to get an answer..." He stated bluntly, "Stop thinking about something you can't change... And don't you _dare_ start thinking that you should have died instead of them."

Shauna flinched slightly as he growled out the last part to his sentence, and she frowned. Sighing, she took a drink from the hot tea and looked at him. His angry expression made her smile, and then she started to laugh which caused him to look confused, "Awe Tsume, you're actually so adorable when you're pissed!"

"Tch... shut up..." He made a face, his cheeks warming but he growled at her in his own defence.

She snickered, setting the cup aside before she tackled him onto the couch, earning an annoyed and surprised grunt from him as they fell onto the soft cushions. She grinned at him, reaching up to press a small kiss on his lips before she pulled away, "Thank you."

Tsume rose an eyebrow, "What the hell are you thanking me for?"

"Just, you cheered me up by being you. And that's enough." She rested her head on his chest and smiled, wrapping her arms around him.

He gave a small scoff, "You idiot..." He mumbled, running a hand through her hair and messing it up, though she was too tired to complain.

The soft sounds of the raining falling on the roof was the only sounds heard for a long time. Neither of them spoke, and the mood was much more relaxed than it had been before. Content enough to doze, Tsume's eyes started to slowly shut against his will, and he almost fell asleep when he felt the blonde shift slightly. Peeking an eye open, he looked at her, "What?"

Shauna stretched, shifting so she laid on her back, settling into the small space between him and the couches pillows. She hummed, "How long has it been since I came here?"

He rose an eyebrow, "Hmm... I'm not sure... A few months? Not so long..."

"You say that but... it's the longest I've ever been out of that town for..." She sighed, "It's where I spent most of my life, even though it's a boring place... I can't remember the name of my birth town, all I know is that it's in the North and is snowy..." She frowned, "I miss those two idiots..."

Tsume looked at her, "You mean Porky and Bex?"

"Yeah... I wonder how they're doing..."

He shrugged, "Maybe they took up your offer and moved into your house... Who knows."

Shauna looked at him and smirked, "... Hey Tsume?"

"What now?"

She sat up, smiling, "Do you think... we could go visit them?"

Tsume twitched, "It's an entire days journey..." He sighed at her pouting, his willpower fading quickly, much to his annoyance, "... Fine, we can go..."

"Awwe thank you Tsume!"

"Tch..." He rolled his eyes but blinked when she put her arms around his neck in a hug. He sighed, pulling her closer.

Goddammit, he's gone soft...


	9. Chapter 9

**_Sorry this took longer than normal, I sort of lost a little bit of interest and starting rewriting another Wolf's Rain story of mine. (Shadows of Paradise, if anyone is interested) But yeah, I'm moving things on after this chapter. Enjoy~_**

 ** _Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain, or Bex._**

* * *

It was safe to say that Shauna was very excited.

From the moment they left the house, she hadn't stopped smiling. Honestly, Tsume found it weird that she was so happy, and he was starting to get annoyed. "You know," He spoke up, "I'm starting to feel like you want to see them more than you'd want to see me."

"Duh, Bex is my soulmate."

And that was the end of _that_ discussion.

It was, as Tsume had warned, an entire day's journey. Shauna had actually forgotten just how far away the town was, and even her excitement couldn't keep her awake for she ended up falling asleep on Tsume's shoulder. Not that he minded, he was starting to fall asleep himself.

The bus jolted to a stop, shaking the two werewolves awake and making them aware that they have arrived at their destination. Shauna yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes and blinking, "Huh?" She looked around, "Ah, we're here! Tsume, up!" She shook him, earning a growl of annoyance.

"Don't be so loud..." He sighed and stood up, getting their bags and walking off the bus with a beaming Shauna following behind him. He wasn't sure why he was the one in charge of carrying the bags; but whatever, probably saves hearing her whine about it in the long run.

Shauna checked the time on her phone, "Gah those idiots should be here to meet us by now!" She whined, "They're not here..." She frowned.

Tsume sighed in annoyance, "They're probably making out with each other somewhere." He made a face, disgusted at the very thought.

The blonde wrinkled her nose, "Ewww no..." She shook her head in disgust, "Don't put that image in my head..."

Tsume shrugged, then lifted his head, "Here they come."

Shauna blinked, "How can you tell?"

"Can't you smell them?"

"I still haven't gotten used to the new smells..."

He shrugged, turning around and sure enough, Hige and Bex walked around the corner, grinning widely when they saw them.

Shauna grinned, "Ah, finally!" She ran towards the two, leaving an annoyed Tsume standing next to the bags. Shauna threw her arms around the two of them, but then after ten seconds pushed Hige away and just hugged Bex, "It feels like it's been forever, and I know I'm exaggerating but fuck it." She grinned.

Bex snickered in amusement, "Awwe, you missed me that much?"

"Of course I did, I can't believe I actually missed your annoying nagging."

Bex pouted, "I don't nag... Do I?" She looked at Hige who shrugged.

"Don't ask me, I'll end up saying the wrong answer regardless."

Shauna smirked, "Still spineless I see." She teased.

Hige pouted, "I'm not spineless, I'm just not a rude person." He looked up seeing Tsume approach, a mischievous glint in his brown eyes, "Speaking of rude people."

Tsume made a face, "Get stuffed Hige."

"I barely even said anything."

"You don't have to say much."

Shauna laughed, nudging Bex, "So c'mon, aren't'cha gonna bring us to yours? I'm starving."

Bex smiled in amusement, "You really never change..." She smirked, "It's not just mine anymore though... Hige and I... We took up your offer."

Shauna blinked, "My parents' house? Really?" She smiled in what seemed like relief, "Good, I'm glad to hear that..." She yelped when Tsume shoved her bag towards her.

"Carry your own damn things, I'm not a pack mule."

Shauna pouted, "Hmph, how charming..." She sighed and took her bag regardless, "Rude."

Bex laughed, "Pfft, male stripper has anger issues."

Tsume growled lowly at her, "Watch it."

She grinned cheekily, "Growl all ya like, Shauna won't let you hurt me."

"Since when do I listen to her?"

"Well, why are you here?" She smirked. The werewolf went silent at that and settled for glaring at her, which made her smirk triumphantly, "Exactly."

Shauna smirked in amusement, throwing her back over her shoulder and linking her arm with Tsume's, "Let's go then, I'm eager to see how much you fucked up the place." She teased.

Hige pouted, "Hey, why do you assume we'd mess it up?"

"Cause it's you."

"Hmph... that's not nice."

"Been a while since I got to be mean to you Porky," Shauna grinned, "I gotta catch up."

Shaking their heads, the two humans of the group lead the way to the large white house, which actually looked cleaner than it had previously, and seemed to have been repainted. Walking inside, Shauna looked around and noticed that everything had changed. While it hurt slightly to see her previous home change entirely, she was happy to see it being used by people she thought deserved it. Not that she'd let them know they deserved it, of course.

Hige blinked, "You want something to eat?"

"Of course, you don't invite somebody inside and then not give them food." Shauna waved a hand, "Duh. Bex, you should know this."

Bex smirked in amusement, "He's not house trained, I'm sorry."

Tsume snorted and looked at Hige, "Isn't that amusing, little Hige has basically become his girlfriends pet." He smirked.

He glared back at the werewolf, pouting, "I'm not a pet! I'm just... domestic."

"Domestic?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure if that means for you to _actually_ be a pet, I dunno how werewolves work so..."

Tsume twitched, "No, that isn't how it works." He made a face, annoyed already and he was only there for a few minutes.

Bex blinked, "Oh hang on, Shauna you left something behind the last time you were here. I'll go get it." She turned and walked off to get whatever item this was.

Shauna blinked, "I don't remember leaving anything..." She looked at Tsume as if asking did he leave something behind, but he shook his head. She tilted her head in confusion and curiosity.

When the brunette returned, her friend felt her chest tighten painfully, "I-Is that..."

Bex smiled at her, "Yeah, it's Adrian's... I found it when I was clearing out some stuff... He liked this necklace didn't he?" She held out a leather cord necklace, which had a fake crocodile tooth as a pendant. She placed it in her friend's hands gently, fully aware of the value it held.

Shauna frowned, "Yeah... he loved this necklace more than anything else he owned..." She sighed, gripping it, "Thanks for keeping it..."

"No problem... I know how much it means."

Tsume looked at them silently, noticing the pain in Shauna's eyes and instinctively he felt annoyed. He glanced at Hige as if to ask what was going on, but Hige shook his head, mouthing the words "Don't bring it up" instead.

Shauna tied the leather cord around her wrist, wearing it as a bracelet instead, "Can't believe I forgot about it..."

"You had a lot of stuff to think about," Bex patted her shoulder, "Don't worry about it. Hey, I bought chicken curry~. I know it's your favourite." She grinned.

Shauna blinked and instantly perked up, "Bex I actually love you."

"Yeah yeah."

* * *

Shauna sighed in annoyance, getting off the bus, "I can't believe that visit is over already, I mean, it only feels like we arrived..." She frowned, pouting, "I wanna go back."

Tsume twitched, "Idiot, we stayed there for a week. You wanna go back, you can stay there." He picked up his back and walked on.

She blinked, "Oooh someone's touchy today. Jealous that Bex got more of my attention?"

"Get over yourself."

Shauna laughed and shivered, "Oh I forgot how cold it was back up here..." She pouted slightly, pulling her jacket closer around herself.

Tsume suddenly stopped and looked around, his golden eyes glowing faintly as he scanned the area. "Shut up for a minute," He mumbled, "There's someone here..."

Shauna immediately tensed and stepped closer to him, her heart automatically beating much faster. She looked around, trying to smell for anything but like she stated before, she wasn't so sure what any smell meant, as she hadn't grown up learning all of this. She couldn't hear anything, but the silence alone made her feel very tense.

Tsume grabbed her hand and kept her close to him, a growl rising in his throat. He wasn't imagining it, someone was defiantly there. He scowled, looking around and towards the road. A different bus, which arrived only a minute ago, was now driving off. Once it drove off, his eyes went to a purple haired young woman who stood there, with no bags, and her eyes were closed. The grey werewolf glared at her, her scent gave her identity away almost immediately.

The woman opened her eyes, and he heard Shauna take a sharp intake of breath, her grip tightening on his hand as she almost let out a whimper. He pushed her behind her and growled.

The woman smirked at them with one visible glowing red eye, the wind blowing and revealing her other eye to be pure white, a scar running down it. A car past by, and suddenly, she was gone.

Shauna tugged on Tsume, "Can we go, please, Tsume, can we go?" She sounded urgent, and he could tell just by her breathing that she was beginning to panic.

He nodded, "Yeah... Come on." He walked off towards the town, pulling her along with her in an urgent manner. He glared at the ground ahead of him as he walked, what the hell was going on anymore?

* * *

Sitting on the high branch of a sturdy tree, she smiled slightly as her purple hair blew in the increasing wind. She took out a flask and took a drink from it, a red liquid running down the side of her mouth and she wiped it away.

"Werewolf blood... it tastes the best." She whispered, smirking as she glanced upwards, "I need a main course for dinner tonight..."


	10. Chapter 10

**_Sorry for the late update. But yeah, not much to say. Enjoy._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

 _The glowing red eyes of the hunter watched her every move, shining like a beacon of destruction in the darkness. She could run as fast as she wanted, but it wouldn't matter. The blood coloured eyes would follow after her like it was a tracker, stuck to her skin like a flea on a filthy dog. The tension was suffocating, and her breath caught in her throat causing her to let out a strangled cough, gasping for air. Every time she glanced back, she saw those eyes. They were everywhere. They were following her. They kept getting closer._

 _And closer..._

 _And closer.._

 _And-_

Shauna sat upright so fast she swore she pulled a muscle in her back. Her neck felt stiff and she was shaking violently, even though her forehead was covered with sweat. Touching her forehead, she felt it was burning, and she was panting for air. _'What the hell was that... Why do I feel so uneasy...'_ She looked around, momentarily panicking when she saw that Tsume wasn't beside her, but relaxed when she realized she could hear him moving downstairs. Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed and placing her feet on the floor, she put on a jacket and went downstairs in a rush. She saw Tsume standing by the TV, flicking through the channels and grumbling about nothing being on. He seemed to sense her presence in the room, and when he turned around, he grunted in surprise at her suddenly clinging to him, arms wrapping around his middle tightly.

He looked down at her and noticed she was still in her pyjama's, only wearing a jacket over them, "Shauna? What's wrong?"

She buried her face to his chest, hands gripping the leather of his jacket, "... I don't know..." She admitted, feeling incredibly embarrassed at being so weak, "I just... I had a nightmare, and started panicking, and I-"

"Quit it, you're rambling," Tsume sighed in annoyance, putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her back, detaching her from him, "Slow down. You had a nightmare? Of what?" He asked.

Shauna sighed to calm herself, looking up but had to avoid looking at his eyes, somehow they always made her blush, "There were... red eyes... and everything else was dark... Everywhere I went, the eyes just followed me, and it was like I was suffocating..." She flinched slightly on instinct when he raised a hand, to which he froze for a moment and frowned, placing his hand on her head gently.

"You're still shaken up aren't you...?" He mumbled, causing her to look up at him, "I knew you weren't being yourself. Even at Bex's, you were still too quiet..."

Shauna grumbled, "Can you blame me? I got blood taken off me by a fucking vampire. And nobody else seemed to have survived it! Not even the fucking _Alpha_ , for crying out loud! Am I supposed to be relieved? No, I'm _terrified_. I was _that_ close to death, and I was _helpless_! I couldn't even protect Toboe properly!"

Tsume growled at her, "You did protect him," He snapped, "He survived the attack with minor injuries because of you. Of course you were helpless, you're a _new_ werewolf that went up against a _vampire_. What were you supposed to do? It's not like we're all equipped with holy water. That could have been any of us, the fact that you survived was lucky enough. Stop beating yourself up about it. You weren't supposed to be ready for that sort of thing."

The blonde went silent and frowned, her gaze turning towards the ground. The silence hung in the air as his words sunk in, and even though she knew he was right, she still felt hopelessly weak. She bit her lip, rubbing her arm slightly.

The male narrowed his eyes at her and sighed, pulling her into his chest again, "You're still thinking like a human," He mumbled, "So you fight like a human... you're a werewolf now. You should probably start thinking, and fighting, like one..."

Shauna blinked, "... Then maybe you should teach me?"

"Hmm... maybe I should..."

* * *

"What the hell was that? Do it again!"

Shauna whined loudly as Tsume's sharp instructions made her want to bury herself alive, "I've been doing this for nearly an hour now. I can't do it!"

Tsume glared at her, "All werewolves can do it. And you're a werewolf, so there's no excuse." He was teaching her how to jump great heights. It was something that came naturally to all werewolves; jumping onto roofs were an easy feat for one. Yet, Shauna could only jump like a normal human... and frankly, she looked like an idiot trying.

She groaned in frustration, "This isn't working." She turned to him, huffing, "You're a shit teacher!"

"No, you're just an idiot." He sighed and shook his head, "We'll have to try something else. Come on," He reached over and took her hand, momentarily making her blush but then she blinked.

"Where we going?"

"We're going to make sure you can jump properly." He answered shortly, walking off and leading them to what looked like a small cave. Shauna was confused, but yelped when he dragged her inside and ducked underneath a small dip, entering a small enclosed space, where light peaked up from the top. He turned and kicked where the dip was, causing rocks to fall into the place and make the space smaller. "There. Now," He let go of her hand, "Good luck getting out." He jumped upwards, escaping through the exit at the top.

Shauna shrieked, "What?! Tsume! You bastard, come back, I can't do this!" She yelled at him, but got no answer, "Oi! Tsume! I swear to god I am _so breaking up with you_!" She snarled.

Tsume sat at the top of the cave, a smirk on his face as he listened to her swears of anger. He shook his head and settled with his back against a nearby tree, crossing his arm and humming. Only ten minutes went by until he fell asleep.

So far, nothing was working for Shauna. She attempted to climb, but the space was far too steep and the rocks weren't jagged enough for her to get decent footing. She groaned, angry about this entire situation and swearing to kick Tsume's ass after this. She squeaked when she heard the sky rattle with thunder, and she whined, "No no no..." She yelped, rain starting to pour down. "Fuck sake..." She scowled.

Everything was alright, she wasn't bothered too badly about the rain, but there _was_ a problem. The space, being so small and enclosed, quickly began to fill up with water. It was at her ankles by the time she noticed the issue. She squeaked, "Oh no," She whimpered, starting to panic, " _Crap_ , T-Tsume! A little help?! This isn't working, c'mon, get me out!" She whined.

No answer.

Panic started to set in and she looked around, hoping that there was _something_ that could get her out. Her heart pounded when the water reached her waist, if she didn't do something, she'd be buried underneath the rising water. The rocks were far too slippery by now to even attempt climbing, so that wasn't an option. Her wolf side was going crazy, something was telling her to just jump. She was terrified, and her human side was telling her _no, it's impossible_. With a loud growl, and glowing green eyes, she focused all her energy to her legs and jumped upwards, kicking off the walls to get up.

Squealing, she hit the wet snow face first, coughing at the impact. She sat up and snarled seeing her idiotic boyfriend, asleep under a tree. She kicked him in the side, causing him to wake up with a fierce growl.

"What the f-" He rose an eyebrow, before rubbing his eyes tiredly, "Ohh, you made it. You jump?"

"Of course I jumped!" She snapped, "You know I have a phobia of drowning, and water was filling up the space! Bitch, I could have _died_!" She spat.

Tsume stood up, "But you didn't. And now you can jump like a werewolf." He smirked, "Hate me now, but that'll be useful if you end up being cornered in a fight." He snorted, "All right, let's get home. Both of us need a shower after this rain."

Shauna's face went red, "N-Not together..."

"... Tch, somebody's mind is in the gutter..."

"S-Shut up..."

* * *

The dark room was lit up by the large TV screen, it's soft blue light flickering in the dark space. Data of all source was on the screen, with cameras on a separate small screen. Chaotic laughter was the only thing heard in the room as the tall, elderly vampire enjoyed the feeling of victory, for now. "It's amazing, Heather!" He laughed loudly, a wide grin on his pale face, "We've beaten two of their strongest males. It's only a matter of time before we crush those mutts and claim this mountain for ourselves! Oh it's so exciting, I can hardly wait!"

Heather resisted the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance, but she nodded, "Of course, master." She said, her voice monotone, but her eyes glinted with a dangerous intent.

He looked at her with wide red eyes, "We've almost won, haven't we darling? We've almost beaten those mongrels once and for all," He grinned, "And when we do, I can proclaim myself the King of this mountain! Me! The _King_!" He let out a laugh that only those who had lost their right mind would do. It was terrifying, menacing, and high pitched as if to emphasise the insanity of it. He grinned, teeth flashing viciously, "When I'm King, people will see things _my_ way. _I'll_ be he superior, _I'll_ be the Alpha Do-" He froze.

Silence filled the room, as if time itself stood still. The screen flickered in an unstable way, and the sound of droplets hitting the floor echoed in the small space. The scent of blood swirled around the area and the very scent caused Heather to wrinkle her nose.

Blood pooled the space beneath the old vampire's feet, as the red liquid dripped from the silver blade that pierced through his chest. His heart now punctured, he glanced back at the narrowed red eye of his 'companion', who looked blankly at him. She ripped the knife from his chest, letting him collapse to the ground in a lifeless heap. She flicked the blood from the blade, glaring down at the body.

"There's no need for your _Highness_ to be here..."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Sorry this took a while, was really busy over the holidays. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter, it's not much but at the same time it's kinda important. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

"Tsume, I'm tiiiired!"

Tsume twitched and made a face, annoyed at the blondes' constant complaining. Turning to face her, he sighed and gave in, "Fine, fine. Let's go home then." He crossed his arms over his chest as she let out a breath of relief.

For the last few days, Tsume has been training Shauna in preparation for the attacks from the vampires. He was, on one hand, relieved to see that this made her feel more confident, but at the same time, training her was incredibly annoying. She complained no matter what they did, and while she has improved greatly at fighting like a werewolf, she still had plenty to learn.

They had spent the entire day 'fighting'. Not seriously, more like something pups would do with their siblings. In their wolf forms, they wrestled, with Tsume coming out as the victor most of the time, although he did go easy on her at the start to let her get used to the idea of fighting in wolf form. By now, she was pretty much used to the style of it.

She was strong, he didn't doubt that. But she was still too hesitant, and he felt like that would be her downfall. If she was to become a real fighter, she had to fight without that hesitation, and let loose. She _was_ part animal now. If she was to win every fight from now on, then she had no choice but to adapt to the do-or-die situations.

And that meant that she had to _kill_.

This was the part of training that Tsume dreaded teaching. He knew that Shauna was still clinging to her human side, which meant the idea of killing would go against her human instincts. She hadn't tapped into her wolf side yet, unlike everyone else, and as a result she still behaved like a regular human. But she had to kill sooner or later, she couldn't just rely on the 'instinct' whenever someone else she loved was threatened. If she relied on it, she would end up dead.

As they got home, he noticed with an amused expression that she went straight for the kitchen. He had never noticed it, but after doing so much exercise and training, she wanted to do nothing else but eat and lie on the couch. Annoyingly, he almost felt the same way.

He frowned, watching her as she grabbed a bowl of food and sat on the couch, staring intently at the television screen. Sighing, he made his way over and sat down beside her, yawning. The training today exhausted him more than it did her; after all, _he_ had to put up with her constant whining.

Shauna smirked at him and shifted closer. He perked an eyebrow at her, "What?" He grunted, noticing her odd smile.

"Nothing."

"It's never _nothing_ with you. Spill it."

Shauna snickered, placing the bowl of food down on the coffee table, turning to face him, "Thanks for training me." She grinned.

Tsume grumbled, "It's nothing to get all happy about." He poked her forehead, "It's irritating. But if it keeps me from seeing you on a hospital bed, then I guess it's worth it."

She laughed, "Awwe, Tsume! Are you worried about me~?" She teased, wrapping her arms around his arm and resting her head on his shoulder, grinning up at him as his face warmed up.

"Tch, do you want me to kick you out?" He grumbled, glaring at her, though the blush on his cheeks was enough for her to dismiss his threats.

Snickering with amusement, she shifted closer and wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her head on his chest with a sigh of content. Relaxing, his arm automatically wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, allowing her to cuddle up to his side.

Moments of silence passed and she hummed, "Tsume, do you think there's going to be a war?"

Her sudden question started him, he wouldn't lie, but he frowned and thought about it, "It's... possible," He admitted, sighing, "The relationship between werewolves and vampires has always been fragile... It's only a matter of time really..." His gaze turned to the ceiling as he frowned, "You should ask Kiba about it. He's more educated about this than I am, someone said he was raised by a witch, but, I find that hard to believe." He sighed.

Shauna bit back a smile, he always sounded irritated when he spoke about Kiba for some reason, "Yeah, I probably should. He _is_ smarter than you."

A loud growl sounded from the grey wolf's throat, and Shauna squeaked in alarm, "I'm kidding!"

* * *

Kiba was, needless to say, very surprised when he found Shauna standing at his door. Perking an eyebrow at her in confusion, he asked, "Did you want something?"

"Mhm, I wanted to talk to you about vampires." She stated, blinking at him, "Tsume told me that you know a good bit about them, right? Can you tell me about them?"

Still surprised, he nodded and stepped aside, allowing her to walk inside, "Alright... what do you want to know?"

"Well, uh... Why were they banished so long ago?"

Kiba paused for a moment to think about it, before he frowned a little, "They were multiplying too fast. See, vampires can't physically reproduce like other species. They can't have their own children, so they have to rely on turning humans into vampires for their population to grow... But they were turning too many humans, and also killing too many humans for their own amusement. It was allowed that vampires feed off human blood as long as they didn't kill; but the vampires ignored this after a while and started to kill whenever they wanted."

Shauna frowned, "So... the witches banned them for that?"

"Not just that, no," He shook his head, "They were banned for that, but also, for their constant clashes with werewolves. From what I've heard, witches began to favour werewolves over vampires, and this caused vampires to sort of... revolt." He crossed his arms over his chest, "So when 'true' werewolves went extinct, vampires topped the scale of dangerous creatures. The witches had enough, so they banished them to remote places around the world."

Shauna's brows furrowed at this information, and she nodded slowly, "So... why are they attacking now, can you guess?" She asked almost hesitantly.

"Revenge, I assume," He answered truthfully, "But I also think that they have... evolved, over the centuries. They seem much stronger than from the stories I've heard."

Nodding, the blonde went silent for a few moments. Then, as if realizing something, she blinked, "You mentioned... 'true' werewolves... what are they?"

Kiba rose an eyebrow, "They were basically the original werewolves... A species that were more feral than what we are now, they were more... wild, I guess. Unlike us, they controlled how human or how wolf they became. While we only have two forms, a wolf, and a human." He frowned, "But they went off the map. Nobody really knows what happened to them, so they're classified as extinct."

"Were they... stronger than what we are now?"

"Very much so," Kiba nodded, "They were extremely powerful creatures. From what I've read about, they were more tapped into nature, and everything around them, more than we are. Those were the creatures who overpowered vampires, remember. They were almost untouchable, apparently, and had the lifespan of hundreds of years."

Her green eyes widened, "Whoa, they sound amazing..." It was almost unbelievable, but then again, she had never realized werewolves existed until a couple of months ago. Now she was willing to believe anything. Satisfied, she smiled at Kiba and nodded, "Thanks for taking the time to talk to me about this... I appreciate it. Sorry for asking so much."

Shaking his head, he returned the smile, "Don't worry, I hope it clears things up for you. Being thrown into this life must take a lot out of you."

Pouting, she nodded, "Yeah, you could say that..." She shook her head and grinned, "I'll see ya later." With that, she walked out the door, but as she walked, her smile fell. Kiba was damn sure right about one thing. This life took a _lot_ out of her.

And she wasn't sure if she could handle it.


	12. Chapter 12

**_Another chapter, and to be honest, I think this is the most intense I've ever done? Well, regardless, I had so much fun with this. Hope you enjoy._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

Shauna knew that she was going to have a bad day, just from the way she woke up.

First of all, she woke up early. _Early_. And for her, that was always a bad thing, because it meant she lost valuable sleeping time that she couldn't regain. So, that instantly put her in a bad mood.

To make matters worse, she woke up with a horrible pain in her neck, and she wasn't entirely sure if it was due to the vampire bite or just her having slept on it wrong. Either way, it hurt like _hell_.

With nothing else to do, and still waiting for the sun to come up, she sat alone in the kitchen, scrolling through random news posts on her phone, while sipping on some very strong coffee. As usual, nothing of interest caught her eye, so she was left to her boredom, resorting to playing a stupid game for a few hours.

Eventually, Tsume woke up, walking downstairs in a half awake state, and she looked at him, "Well, look who rose from the dead." She teased, putting her phone down. She grinned slightly; he looked rather adorable with sleepy eyes and bed head.

Tsume turned to look at her and made a face, "Are you sick? Why the hell are you up so early."

She sighed, "I have no idea, I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep... Just my luck that I woke early with a pain in my neck." She grumbled, clearly in a sour mood because of it all.

Her answer made him grunt in annoyance, he clearly knew that this meant a very, _very_ snappy Shauna for the day, which also meant a few punches for him. None of them hurt too much, but still, his pride felt it.

"How many coffee's have you had?" He asked, smelling the amount of coffee in the air hovering above her cup.

"Only ten."

The response made him sigh, and yet, somehow he wasn't even surprised. This _was_ Shauna after all. He's been with her long enough at this stage to know what she's like. And when she's tired, she relies very heavily on caffeine. Not healthy, but then again, he prefers that to alcohol, which usually hurt his sensitive nose quite a lot. "That's enough," He decided, picking up her cup and throwing its contents down the sink. Ignoring her cries of protest, he proceeded to make himself some food.

Shauna grumbled, "You ruined my only way to feel normal," She huffed, "How rude."

Tsume twitched and glared at her, "Grow up," He scowled, "You can't expect to run on so much caffeine, you'll end up having a freaking heart attack. You're still recovering remember?"

"Oh play a new tune will ya?" She scowled back, "That happened weeks ago. If I was still recovering, I wouldn't be doing this bullshit training you have me doing, which I don't see improving my chances of survival at all."

"Then maybe you should find a new teacher." He spat.

Her eyes glowed as she glared at him, "Maybe I will, and I _might_ just learn something." She hissed.

He glared at her for a few moments, before mumbling something under his breath and grabbing his jacket, leaving the food he was making behind and opting to take an apple on the way out, shutting the door loudly behind him.

Shauna made a face, sighing as she rubbed her head, which hurt from lack of sleep. As she sat in silence, regret fell over her and she felt guilty about what she had said to him. What she said wasn't entirely true, she did feel like her fighting skills have improved thanks to Tsume, and she had learned how to jump, something that would probably come in handy down the road. As the day continued, things kept getting in the way of them both, it was almost as if something was making them avoid each other. When one of them was free, the other was busy, and vice versa. In the end, they only spoke to each other later that day when the sun began to set over the mountains. But by then, Shauna had been put in one of her worst moods, as had he.

One was a volcano, the other was a typhoon. And they were about to collide in a dangerous way.

It was ten past eleven in the evening when Tsume finally came home. At this point, Shauna was tired, low on energy, and had been snapping at everyone for the entire day. To make things worse, she had a massive bill to pay, which Tsume was supposed to have covered. After all, it was him that was making the money, not her. She didn't even have a job to begin with, and now she had no money either. Naturally, this made her extremely angry.

As soon as he walked in the door, she attacked, "Well look who decided to waltz in," She snapped, "Do you realize how much money I forked over? A bill you _promised_ to pay ages ago! I had promised not to nag about these things, but seriously, this is fucking ridiculous. Next time a bill like that comes in, you're paying every single cent, not me."

Tsume glared at her, "I _was_ going to pay it."

"Oh really, when? When you finally decided to get up off your ass and do something productive? You act like a sixty year old who smokes and does drugs every day of his life." She snarled.

He growled, "Which one of us has a job?" He stepped forward, "Which one of us spends every day patrolling these damn borders for any signs of a vampire attack? And which one of us took up training your sorry ass cause you were too terrified to step outside the fucking door?" He snarled at her, eyes glowing, "Don't you dare tell me that I haven't done anything. Unlike you, I've _tried_ to make things normal for us, but you _always_ manage to mess it up. Why I even bother trying any more is beyond me."

She knew she should stop, calm down, take a few breaths; but she couldn't. Her temper flared and she fought back even though she knew she was in the wrong, even though she knew she was being unfair, "How do I mess things up? _I_ didn't ask to be attacked by a vampire. And I never asked to get attacked by a fucking psycho werewolf, who _you_ had promised would never return. Thanks for that by the way, when you left and _abandoned_ me when shit hit the fan. I really appreciated it, could have died but hey, no big deal. I seem to be in a dire situation every fucking week nowadays."

Tsume glared, "You chose this life. You should have expected something like this."

"I'm not a psychic Tsume! I can't predict what will happen to me!" She yelled, scowling, "You keep telling me things will be fine, everything will settle down. Well it hasn't, and I don't see it settling any time soon." She scowled, "You being a werewolf hasn't improved my life in any way so far."

The grey wolf growled loudly and his golden eyes glowed with anger, "Well meeting _you_ hasn't improved my life either, you've been nothing but a damn nuisance."

The clock ticked five minutes away from midnight, and everything seemed to stand still. Shauna stared at Tsume with wide eyes, hurt settling into her features as her anger distinguished. She gritted her teeth and brushed by him quickly, walking out the door and slamming it behind her. Watching her leave, Tsume instantly regretted his words and let out a groan of frustration. Normally, he'd go after her, but he thought it would have been better to let things cool down between the both of them. If he let her calm down, things would eventually settle down, and they could go back to normal quite soon.

How wrong he was.

* * *

She didn't know where she was going, but as she walked quickly down the street, she didn't really care. She bit her lip as tears blurred her vision, the cold wind blowing in her direction and causing her to shiver, her reaction being to pull her jacket tighter around herself. Her chest hurt, stung even, and it wasn't from the coffee she had. How did things get so bad? They had been fine before this ever happened, or so she had once believed. Thinking about it now, their relationship had begun to drift in the past few days as the pressure between vampires and werewolves built up. Finally, she stopped in the town square, in front of the small water fountain that was in the middle. She stared at the glistening water with tear-filled eyes, and as she quickly wiped them, her mind replayed everything that had happened.

She felt so guilty. Honestly, she knew that Tsume didn't see her as a nuisance. It had been her fault, she provoked him into saying something like that. She bit her lip, shoulders shaking as she fought back the urge to cry, _'I'm such an idiot...'_ She thought to herself bitterly, her tears rolling down her cheeks.

The moon was now high in the dark sky. The clouds were starting to roll in, predicting that a snow storm was approaching. However, as the clock drew closer to midnight, something else was approaching. The clock tower in the center of the town suddenly sounded that it had in fact struck midnight, and the bells rang out.

Shauna looked up at the clock, frowning. She needed to head back, and sort things out with Tsume-

She froze. Her entire body went still, and her heart rate picked up as her wolf side screamed at her that something was in fact _very_ wrong. And she was right.

Explosions, left and right, happened all around her, as she watched, her body locked up with complete fear. Screams filled the air as the residents flooded from their homes, buildings collapsing and debris flying everywhere. Smoke quickly filled the entire town and the werewolves found it almost impossible to breathe. Figures in black clothing jumped from God-knows-where, grabbing the weakened and pulling them along. Trucks rolled in, the back opening where the captured were thrown inside. Yells, threats, and screams were heard all around the town. Everything was happening so fast, nobody understood what to do.

A flash of movement caught her eye and she had just enough time to block a punch, she ducked to avoid another but got kicked in the side, the force sending her crashing onto the ground. She snarled and her eyes opened to see her attacker, only to see a cloaked figure, who was soon joined by a second. It didn't take a genius to figure out that these two were indeed vampires. Pulling herself to her feet, she tensed up and got ready to defend herself, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Attacking us out of the blue?!" She snapped, "What the hell do you guys want?"

Only one of them replied, "We don't feel the need to explain ourselves to a mere werewolf. Now shut up, and stay still, like a good girl."

Shauna growled, "Don't talk to me like I'm your damn dog." She ran forward and threw a punch at them, but unfortunately, her actions were predicted by the vampires who moved expertly, sidestepping around her with ease. She was tripped up and kicked in the stomach, once again being sent to the ground, only this time, one of them appeared next to her and tied her hands behind her back, putting handcuffs around her wrists. Shauna's eyes widened and she squirmed, a burning sensation going through her arms, "W-What-"

"Silver," Her attacker smirked, his gloved hands grabbing her shoulders to make her stand, "Now get moving, or else I'll cut you open and drain you of all the blood you got."

She struggled against them, but it was pointless. With the silver burning her skin, the pain was too much to fight while trying to resist them as well, "You son's of bitches, this is why nobody likes vampires! This is why people like werewolves better, vampires suck! _Literally_!" She snarled angrily, but gave a loud yelp when she was suddenly thrown into the back of a truck, among other captured citizens.

The doors slowly closed as the vampire sneered at them, "Sit tight, you mongrels... Soon enough, werewolves won't even exist for people to admire."

The doors slammed closed, and as the truck jolted to a start, they all knew that there was a possibility of that threat being more serious than any of them could imagine.


	13. Chapter 13

**_New chapter, excited to get things rolling. Things are about to kick off now, and I can't wait to get to it. Enjoy._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

There was smoke everywhere.

He had no idea what had happened, but within the first five minutes of the assault, the entire town had become engulfed in flames. The fire rose into the darkness of the night, the buildings collapsed and kicked up even more smoke as the blaze ate away at the town. It was complete chaos, there were screams, crashes, and the stench of blood and smoke hanging in the air. By now, it appeared as if the raid had stopped, and their assailants have retreated, but for how long, they all wondered. Now left with the wreckage of their home, they wondered what was the real cause of all this. What were they after?

Tsume didn't care right now. He was more concerned about everyone else, it was hard to tell who was dead, or who was still alive. He searched the burning town for anybody, but to his surprise, there weren't many around anymore. Perhaps they escaped when the attack first hit? Hopefully, but he had the sinking feeling that it was nowhere near as simple as that.

"Tsume, up here!"

The grey wolf lifted his head to see Kiba and Toboe, standing with the few werewolves that escaped. Frowning at such little numbers, he jumped up the hillside to meet them, "Is this... all there is?"

"Afraid so," Kiba answered, looking grim, "It seems everyone else has either been killed or taken captive..." He looked at the few werewolves that they had, his heart sinking with guilt as he saw their broken and tired expressions.

Tsume gritted his teeth in frustration, "Dammit all... They took the weaker ones..." He scowled angrily, his fists clenching at his sides. He didn't mean to call the others weak, but he wasn't exactly lying. The vampires were clever, they took the ones who weren't on the patrols, therefore weren't trained to fight. They aimed at the weaker group, which consisted mainly of females and children. That's not to say that there weren't males in that group, there were, but those, male and female, who worked and trained to protect the borders, were the ones unharmed.

Toboe bit his lip, trembling and holding his injured arm, "T-Tsume," He whimpered, "They took Sky, and Kyoko, and Mei..." He whined sadly, shaking.

Tsume's eyes softened slightly at the pup and he sighed, rubbing his head with frustration. Kiba turned to face him, frowning, "Is... Shauna not with you?"

The tanned man flinched slightly, wincing, "No... We... We had an argument, and it got out of hand... she stormed out... chances are she was taken as well. Dammit." He gave a small snarl of frustration, the entire situation being incredibly stressful, especially for a werewolf. The small group watched as their town burned before them, the smoke travelling up into the dark clouds above their heads.

Toboe frowned, looking towards Kiba, "Kiba, what should we do?"

Kiba looked at him, frowning. It then came to his attention that all of them were looking at him; they were waiting for his orders. He took a breath, reminding himself that this was who he was now, he was an _Alpha._ He had a duty.

His blue eyes turned to gaze upon the burning wreckage of their town, "We'll wait until sunrise, the fire will die on its own... no point risking lives to stop it..." He sighed, "After that, we'll find where the others have been taken to." Turning to Tsume, he gave a nod, "We'll find them."

Tsume didn't seem convinced, but he nodded silently, a scowl still on his face. The exhausted werewolves sat around in silence as they witnessed the destruction of their once peaceful home, knowing that things will never be the same again. One thing was for sure...

War had begun.

* * *

The door of the truck opened with a loud creak, startling all the werewolves who were contained inside. They expected the harsh brightness from the snowy mountains, but to their surprise, they were in a dark and damp area, that smelled faintly of blood. Heavily armoured vampires stood at the doors, and a purple haired woman walked up. She smiled at them, though her expression was in no way welcoming, "Werewolves. Welcome to our lovely home, we hope you... enjoy yourselves." Her one visible eye narrowed as she smirked, "My name is Heather, and I will be, as you creatures call it, your 'Alpha', from now on."

Kyoko scowled at her, narrowing her eyes, "Where are we? Where have you taken us?" She demanded, growing protective of the others in the truck with her. Shauna glanced at her, she frowned, having never seen this side of Kyoko before.

A vampire hissed and pointed a spear at her, "Don't you mind, mutt!"

Heather smirked, "No need to be hostile," She looked at Kyoko, "We are deep within the mountain, in a series of connected caves that lead all around. There are a series of five 'floors', if you will. Think of it as an underground castle." She smirked, "As for where we _will_ take you, you will be working in the yards, harvesting the plants that grow around the mountain, as well as picking the stones for resources. You werewolves are known for your strength, and stamina, correct? We'll make good use of that."

Shauna felt rage bubble in her chest, "Like hell I'll agree to being your slave! Screw that business." She snapped, glaring.

Heather smirked darkly, "You'll soon learn your place." She looked towards Mei, who trembled upon eye contact, "Your mate would be displeased if you were to lose that child of yours."

Mei's eyes widened with fear, and her face lost all colour, "... Max... you... you killed him..." She breathed, tears brimming her eyes.

The female vampire turned around, "He died because of his loyalty. You should be proud." She looked at her soldiers, "Escort these creatures to their cells. Have them out in the yard by sunrise." They nodded, and the leader walked off without another word.

Kyoko looked at Mei, who was close to bursting into tears. She nudged her shoulder sadly, mumbling quiet words of support, although she felt as if none would work right now.

Shauna was shaking with anger. She felt so helpless, so pathetic. As the vampire soldiers pushed them forwards to their individual cells, the realization that they were truly trapped began to seep in. Her chest started to hurt, and her instincts screamed at her that this wasn't right. If she stayed here for much longer, she would lose her mind. Emerald coloured eyes darted around, searching for some way to escape. Finding any underground was pointless, Heather had been correct when she said each tunnel was connected. There were no dead ends, but it also meant that if they did escape, they would be found within minutes.

The blonde felt a nudge at her shoulder, and she looked down at the small girl that she remembered to be called Sky, "Are we... going to die?" She whispered, eyes watery with tears that were threatening to fall.

Shauna frowned at her, before she gave a reassuring smile, "No, we won't. Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Sky nodded, although she didn't appear to be too convinced. Her gaze returned to the ground and silence fell between them all.

The cell doors slammed shut for Shauna, and as she sat against the cold stone wall, she sighed heavily and brought her knees to her chest. Leaning her head against the wall, she shut her eyes as her chest panged with the painful question that hung over their heads. _Will_ they survive this 'prison camp' these vampires have in store for them? She had no idea. A sudden yell from down the corridor, most likely from a solider to a prisoner, didn't make her feel any better. The possibility of them rotting in a dirty, damp prison cell was enough to make her panic internally.

No. She couldn't allow herself to lose her cool. She will wait, and try to figure out a way that they can all escape, alive. There was no way she would depend on the others this time.

She _had_ to do something. And fast.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Not much to say, only that the anime Yona of the Dawn/Akatsuki no Yona has officially taken control of my life. I'll probably do some sort of fanfiction on that anime too... Who knows.**_

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

The prison camp was giant.

As stated before, it was made up of several floors, which were only accessible through one of two elevators on either side of the camp. The bottom floor was where the werewolves were being kept, where they were contained within the darkest parts of the prison and forced to stay in damp cells, the only light provided, was by the wall lanterns along the stone walls.

The werewolves were exhausted. Having been deprived of moonlight, their energy had gone down considerably, and now they felt weak and tired most of the time. They were fed poorly, with foods that lacked in the nutrition they needed to survive. Meat was a luxury for them now, having spent nearly a month in the prison. The only one who was treated differently was Mei, who by now was heavily pregnant, for the soldiers provided her with the nutrition she actually needed to support herself and the child, as instructed by 'Chief' Heather, or so she's now known as.

Having taken complete control since their last leader died, Heather quickly took action and established a well disciplined army of vampires, in such a short time. She was powerful, and recognized by each individual in the vicinity. Nobody dared speak out against her, for while she was a calm girl, she was rather unpredictable. That wasn't to say that she was a cruel leader; the opposite, which added to the respect and loyalty she received. The new army of vampires flourished under their leaders orders, and as a result, nobody had any complaints so far. And Heather was determined to keep it this way.

Working in the yard was hard work. It was in the open air, but the vampires never let them out when the moon was up, no, they weren't that stupid. They started work early in the morning, when the sun was coming up, and didn't stop until the sun started to go down again. The weather was what made the work difficult, for the mountainous region suffered from heavy snowfall, and extreme winds. The cold was too much for the werewolves, and some of them grew very weak as a result.

Kyoko was determined to keep the pack together for as long as possible. She believed in their pack, and felt like the others will come for them eventually. She tried to keep them all in good spirits, but it wasn't enough. Most of them had given up by now, except herself and Shauna. Even Sky had given up and accepted their situation, simply putting her head down and working to avoid punishment.

The vampires were enjoying themselves. They were ordered to leave Mei alone, but not the others, so they constantly tormented them while they worked, making their lives just that bit more difficult. It started off as petty comments and smart remarks, but as time dragged on, it got more violent, and soon enough the werewolves found themselves facing a beating for no justified reason anymore. They were tripped, pushed, slapped for no apparent reason, simply 'for fun'. It was Hell.

Today was a particularly bad day for Shauna. She woke up with a sore neck, again, and she was starving. The small rations they were given simply wasn't enough, and as everyone knew, she was incredibly cranky when she was hungry. As they stepped out into the yard, Kyoko noticed the dark scowl on the blonde's face, and mumbled to her, "Keep your cool, don't do anything stupid."

Her younger companion huffed, "I'm always doing something stupid, Kyo. If I rip the head off one of them, I would be satisfied."

Kyoko kicked her, "Shh! You know how sensitive their ears are, don't go saying things like that or you'll end up dead!"

The vampires watched them the entire time they worked. Every movement they made didn't go by undetected. It was unsettling, being watched the whole time, but neither female said anything against it, they simply tried to ignore it.

Kyoko winced slightly as her arm ached, strained from lifting heavy rocks without rest, and without food to give her energy. She let out a yelp when a whip cracked against her back and she fell to the ground, wincing more. Looking back, she met the gaze of a solider, his glowing red eyes glaring down at her.

"Get back up, Mongrel! Nobody told you that you could rest!"

Shakily, she got to her feet and bit her tongue to prevent herself from snarling at him, "I'm sorry." She mumbled instead, returning to work and trying to ignore the stinging in her back and the pain running through her arms.

Shauna growled at this and was tempted to speak up, but Kyoko shot her a look, as if to say "Don't." Reluctantly, Shauna turned a blind eye, although she was not one bit pleased.

Their day was coming to an end. Dusk was approaching, and so the werewolves were rounded up, like routine, and they started to head back to their damp cells. As they were pushed forward, young Sky tripped and fell, causing her to whimper and hold up the group. Due to her hands being handcuffed in front of her, she got up with difficulty, but gasped when a whip was cracked on the ground next to her. She looked up at the angry solider who scowled down at her trembling form.

"Move it, brat!"

Shauna snarled and tried stepping forward, but Kyoko stepped in front of her, glaring back at her, "Stop, don't cause more trouble."

"But-"

" _No_ , Shauna."

Flinching at the snarl from the older wolf, she reluctantly fell back and looked away, guilt eating away at her for not helping Sky.

That wasn't the end of it. Sky's knee had been scraped pretty badly from her fall, to the point where it drew blood. The scent of the blood caused the vampire's eyes to narrow and his pupils became thin slits, his fangs showing. Sky trembled and shifted back, but didn't get far as the soldier reached out, earning a scream from the pup.

What happened next was a confused blur.

Shauna swung around and kicked the soldier dead in the nose, the force of the kick causing him to slam back into the wall, blood dripping from his nose. She snarled as she stood defensively in front of Sky, the hairs on the back of her head standing on edge and her emerald eyes glowed, her teeth seemingly sharper and more like a canines.

It was still for a moment, and then their captors realized what had happened and grabbed Shauna, holding a blade to her neck, "You foolish dog," He snarled, "You'll soon regret that greatly. I'll make sure of it." He pushed her forward into the arms of another solider, "Bring her to Block D. She'll learn her lesson there."

Shauna snarled angrily, "You bastards can kiss my ass, I'm sick of being treated like a damn joke." She whipped around and bit into the arm of the solider holding onto her, her sharp fangs digging deep into the flesh and breaking through his armour as if it were chocolate.

Kyoko's eyes widened and fear gripped her heart, "Shauna, no, stop!"

Yelling out in pain, more guards were alerted and the blonde found herself surrounded by guards, each pointing weapons at her. The one she injured snarled darkly, "You blonde bitch," He spat, "For that, you'll answer to the Chief. She can decide your fate from there."

Shauna narrowed her eyes, "Go on then. I'd _love_ to speak to her."

* * *

Tsume scowled as he laid on the couch, arms behind his head as he listened to the ticking of the clock. It was past dusk by now, and he felt oddly agitated. The werewolves that hadn't been captured all worked very hard to rebuild their town. Given their stamina, strength and teamwork, they had the majority of the town built within the first two weeks. Houses near the town square were the worst effected, and as such were still under major construction. Tsume was one of the more fortunate ones; his house was located further away from the others, a bit closer to where the borders were in fact. As a result, his home hadn't been effected by the fire, and everything was as it should. Unfortunately, Toboe's house was completely destroyed, so the older werewolf offered him the spare room in his for the time being. It worked out well, for ever since the attack, Toboe had become more cowardly than he had been before, and was convinced the vampires would return to finish them off. Staying with Tsume was beginning to knock him out of that mindset, thankfully.

Although their situation was easily fixed, Tsume couldn't shake the feeling that something even worse was happening. They had no idea where the others were, or if they were even alive, for that matter. A lot of the residents believed them all to be dead; but Tsume refused to accept that. Something was telling him that they were alive. He didn't care if he sounded crazy, which he assumed most people were thinking by now, because he was somehow convinced that they were alive.

 _'If she was dead... I would know.'_ He thought, staring up at the ceiling. _'I know she isn't dead... She can't be...'_ He sighed, closing his eyes.

 _'If she is, I'll kill her.'_

* * *

"My, my, my..." Heather gave a sickening smile as she stared down at the kneeling blonde in front of her, her cheek resting on her fist, "Somebody has been a very naughty girl, haven't they?"

Shauna snarled at her, eyes glowing, "I'm not a dog..." She spat back, only to wince as the solider behind her kicked her back.

"Don't speak to the Chief that way!"

Heather smirked, "Do you not learn?" She asked the blonde, curiously, "Were you not taught to hold your tongue unless directed to speak?"

"I guess I never got the memo. My bad." She sneered.

Smirking, the vampire sat up straight, "My loyal guards tell me that you attacked them, then bit one of them... Biting is strictly forbidden, punishable by death."

Her words sank in rather quickly, and Shauna's heartbeat raced, and her face went pale.

"But," Heather smirked darkly, "I have a much better idea..." She stood up, "Ruby." She called.

A red haired woman walked into the room, and Shauna froze, eyes widening, "Y-You... you were that vampire... from before..." She whispered breathlessly, her chest tightening.

The red haired woman, Ruby, smirked deviously, "Well hello."

"So this is the werewolf who survived your attacks, is it, Ruby?" Heather asked, eyebrow raised in question.

"No doubt about it," She answered, nodding, "There was a little pup too, but I didn't drink from him, he fainted too quickly. Her, on the other hand," Her gaze landed on Shauna, "I drank from... I could have sworn I drank every last drop of blood... Clearly I was mistaken, that, or she regenerates incredibly fast."

Nodding, the purple haired woman smiled, "Now tell me, Ruby... what did her blood taste like? You described as... the best blood you ever had?"

Ruby grinned widely, revealing sharp canines that gleamed in the light, "Yes, Chief. I've never tasted blood better than it... It was truly incredible."

"I see... Thank you, Ruby, you may leave." She waved her hand.

Bowing her head respectfully, Ruby left the room, shooting Shauna one last cocky grin, as if saying _"You're screwed."_

"Now, Shauna," The werewolf looked up as she was addressed, "You should be thankful that I have decided to spare your life... However, I have much bigger plans for you..." The red eye of the vampire gleamed with dangerous power and authority.

"I'll make you _wish_ you weren't spared..."


	15. Chapter 15

**_Sorry I left this so late, I lost motivation for a while. Hopefully I'm back into the swing of things, but this might not be my best chapter so apologies._**

 ** _Anyways, enjoy._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

Shauna snarled loudly as she was thrown into a new cell, which was even smaller than the last and much colder. It was deeper in the mountain, quite far from the rest of the pack, leaving her totally isolated. The cell she was thrown into had two doors; one was the standard cell bars, much like that of a real prison, and the other was a steel door that only had a rectangular bar to see through. This meant that even if she did escape the bars, she'd still have to get through that door, which was guarded by heavily armed vampires. Her hands were placed in handcuffs that allowed her to move her arms as they had a space in the middle, connected by a thick chain, but due to the weight of them, movement was rather difficult. Her legs were also placed in the same sort of cuffs, and she found herself with her back to the wall as the cell door slammed shut. There was a tiny window in her cell, allowing only the smallest amount of moonlight in; she assumed that they were on the edge of the mountain for any connection to outside. Even so, the moonlight gave her a small amount of energy, which she was grateful for.

"That's not smart, is it?" She sneered, "Leaving a werewolf in an area where moonlight can hit..."

Heather smiled at her, leaning against the steel door with her arms folded across her chest, her red eye glinting with amusement, "Your strength is going to be needed, werewolf."

"Aren't you trying to kill me?"

"Hm, no." She straightened, "You're going to serve us in a much more beneficial way..." She stepped away as another vampire walked in, however, what alarmed the blonde was how this one was dressed.

He resembled a doctor, as he had a surgical mask over his mouth, and a white coat on him. On his face he wore glasses, with tinted lenses, and gloves on his hands. Everything about him made Shauna's body lock up in fear, as somehow, she knew this wasn't going to end well for herself.

Heather smiled, "Do you have the drug?"

"Yes, Chief..." He took out a frightening syringe, filled with an odd purple liquid.

Shauna's eyes widened, "What the hell is that...?"

"It's a drug that is used on people who lost a lot of blood. In simple terms, this drug will cause your body to produce twice the amount of blood it's supposed to. Now, using this specific drug on a healthy person will cause that person to drown on their own blood, however," She smirked darkly, "We'll drain that, and then some, of your blood. Needless to say, this drug will only just keep you alive with some blood left in your system."

The werewolf felt her heart stop with the fear. Reality of her situation set in and she stared at the pair with wide, frightened eyes, "You're a monster..."

"So are you." She answered shortly, her red eye flashing with a devilish glint, "We're all monsters, darling." She nodded to her companion, who pushed up his glasses and moved forward.

Instantly, Shauna struggled as he came closer, "Get the hell away from me, I'm not going to be your blood bank!" She snarled, her teeth bared in the little defence she had.

Unfazed by her hostility, the doctor moved forward and grabbed her arm, pushing her sleeve up. Despite her struggles, the lack of nutritious food caused her movements to be slow, and she was too weak to stop him as he stabbed the needle into her arm. Her body froze as the syringe filled her veins with the purple liquid.

Heather smirked as the werewolf before her trembled, and she stepped forward. The doctor backed away as his Chief leaned over, tipping Shauna's face away, and sinking her fangs into the soft flesh of her neck, draining the blood that was being pumped from the drug.

It was so strange. One moment, she felt energised, and then the next, she felt as if her very life was slowly being stripped from her, but not quite. It was almost frustrating; she felt like she was dying, but whenever she got close to the relief of death, it simply never came, only prolonging the suffering. Her mind slipped in and out of consciousness, the pain dulling her senses and slowly turning her body numb.

As her lips left the flesh of the werewolf, Heather smirked widely upon seeing that she had passed out. Licking the blood from her mouth, her skin practically glowed as she felt the strength, housed in the werewolf, flow through her own body. "Incredible," She whispered, "To think a werewolf so young possesses such powerful blood..." She smiled and turned, "Keep this girl alive. Her blood is rare and nutritious, she must be kept to produce more blood."

"As you wish, Chief..."

Glancing back at the blonde girl, her red eye glinted with mischief, _'What a fine tool you've turned out to be...'_

* * *

Two months of silence, two months of pure torture.

Tsume had never felt like this before. So pathetic, so _helpless_. He spent his evenings pacing around in his own home, feeling suffocated by his own failures. It was eating away at him, slowly, but surely, and sooner or later it would drive him insane. The guilt was setting in with each passing moment, and his only wish now was to be able to turn back the clock, to set things right.

That was obviously impossible.

Fact is, nobody knew where Shauna, Kyoko, or the others were. They could well be dead by now, and that was what everyone else suspected. Tsume was ready to believe that, too, but for some reason, something was telling him otherwise.

 _"It's said that when werewolf mates share a deep bond, they can feel the others' heartbeat, even if separated. This is a unique power among werewolves that not many possess... it takes two werewolves who care a lot about each other to be able to do this..." Kyoko smiled at the younger werewolf, almost sadly._

 _Tsume perked an eyebrow, "... And you know this crap how?" He asked, his rude manner never faltering._

 _"Because... I felt it with Yuudai... that's how..."_

Tsume ran a hand through his hair, heat creeping up his neck slightly, _'Is that why I have this feeling in my gut? Tch... what a pain...'_ He closed his eyes, _'If that's the case... I should be able to feel her heartbeat... does that mean... I can pinpoint her location...?'_

Something seemed to chime inside his head, and suddenly, the image of a snow covered mountain popped into his head, and although the picture was hazy, he swore he knew where it was. His golden eyes snapped open with realization and his breath caught in his throat. As he went to walk out the door, a sudden crushing sensation weighed on him and he growled out in pain, his chest aching without warning. It almost felt as if his energy had been ripped from his body, and his neck almost pulsed. Grabbing his neck he leaned his head against the wall, sweat rolling down his forehead.

 _'Dammit to Hell...'_ He gritted his teeth, and slammed his fist against the wall, causing it to crack slightly.

 _'Shauna... what the hell is happening to you?'_

* * *

Kyoko frowned, concern etched onto her face like a sculpted masterpiece. Her amber coloured eyes darted around the dark, damp cell block, fear gripping her rapidly beating heart. _'Why is it so quiet?'_ She thought, _'Where... where did they take Shauna? She hasn't returned... They haven't killed her, have they? Oh god, please, no... Tsume wouldn't be able to deal with her death, not after...'_ She shut her eyes quickly to banish her thoughts, before the tears leaked from her eyes.

"Ms. Ruby.. why do you seem so happy?" She heard one of the nearby guards question, and her ears perked up slightly to the conversation.

"I got a taste of the most delicious blood earlier," The woman, Ruby, practically purred, "It was... incredible..."

"Really? From who?"

"Oh, one of the new werewolves that was brought in. The girl that bit another soldier earlier," She explained with amusement dancing in her tone, "Quite the feisty one.. But she's a surprisingly strong werewolf, I mean, I attacked her before and I swore that I drank her clean of blood... Either she regenerates three times faster or she's just a new breed of werewolf. Either way, the Chief is using her as her personal blood bank~."

Kyoko's eyes widened with fear. _'Personal... blood bank?! They're using her as a snack?!'_ Her own blood suddenly boiled with rage, disgusted by their vile actions.

"I haven't heard you talk so highly about a werewolf's blood for a long time..."

"Hmm?" Ruby gasped, "Oh that's right, it's been what... a year since I drank from a werewolf? Lemme think, who was it... Some grey haired guy... I think he had a lip piercing." She snickered slightly, "Now I remember. I actually had to _fight_ with that brute for a while, but he tired out rather quickly... Shame, he was rather handsome for a werewolf..."

The rage she had felt suddenly disappeared, and was replaced with shock. Her body felt colder than it had ever been, and her eyes stared into the darkness blankly. _'Grey haired... lip piercing...'_

Footsteps retreated down the hallway, and the female werewolf fell against the wall, tears streaming down her face.

 _'It wasn't an accident, then...'_ A sob sounded in her throat, and she brought her knees to her chest, trembling.

 _'Yuudai was murdered by these monsters...'_


	16. Chapter 16

**_Sorry for the slow update, this was a bit of a struggle to write, I kept losing motivation. But, anyways, hope you enjoy._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

The cell was eerily silent, save for the slow, rhythmic dripping from the roof, the metallic smell of stale blood lingering in the air. The cold breeze blew in from the crack of the window, the blizzard outside forcing its way into this damp, dark hell.

Shauna's entire body felt numb, stiff, and her head hung with defeat, all efforts to fight against her captors drained from her body. Her neck was scarred on both sides, bright red marks from the vicious fangs that had penetrated the skin, drinking the blood and removing her energy. She appreciated, but at the same time despised, how they placed her in a cell that allowed the moon to shine in, the lunar energy keeping the young werewolf hanging on the thread of life. By now, after enduring almost three months of this brutal torture, she just wanted it to end.

' _Hah... Has it really been three months...? I can't even tell the time in this place...'_ She thought, her spirits low as she awaited an unfriendly visit. She could hear them approaching. Slowly, tauntingly.

"Has the werewolf reached her limit?"

"Yes Sir. She's very unresponsive despite the food we gave her, which were dosed with drugs… We're not sure what else we can do for her, she might die within the week…"

"That won't be good… The Chief won't be happy if she ends up dead… I've never seen her glow so much, after drinking this girls' blood…" A pause, before the older voice spoke again, "Perhaps you could revive her… there's a drug that we keep stored away, because it amplifies the power of a vampire… I'm not entirely sure how it'll work on a werewolf, but it will keep her alive, if nothing else…"

"B-But Sir! That… that's _incredibly_ dangerous! W-What if she breaks free, who knows what it will do to a werewolf!"

A snarl emitted from the older sounding man, "Don't give me such disrespect, soldier, and do what I commanded!"

"Y-Yes, Sir…"

The door to her cell opened, but by now, she didn't even bother to look up. She heard what they had said, but she doubted that anything would happen. After all, she had been drugged up for the past three months, she doubted _anything_ would affect her now, her body more than likely built up a defence to these types of drugs. She tensed up when the Solider got closer to her, checking if she was conscious, before looking up at his superior, "She's awake, Sir…"

"Good. Give her the pill…"

Hesitantly, the Soldier reached into his pocket, taking out an odd, orange coloured pill that had a strange red swirling pattern. Obviously, it screamed danger, but orders were orders, and he was more afraid of what his superior did than what this pill did to the poor blonde girl in front of him. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he reached out to take Shauna's chin in his hand, opening her mouth and placing the pill inside. This was routine, and so out of habit, Shauna simply swallowed the pill without a moment's hesitation.

They waited.

But nothing happened.

Ten minutes rolled by, and there was no change in the girl's behaviour. Disappointed, the two men turned to leave the cell, grumbling to each other about wasting the precious pill.

Shauna knew it wouldn't change anything, and she cursed herself for getting her hopes up, even a tiny bit. She felt no difference, still feeling as pathetic and weak as beforehand. Closing her eyes, she tried to get some sleep, _'I might as well just lie down, die, and get it over with…'_

" _You're either incredibly lucky, or stupidly resistant…"_

The werewolf jolted upon hearing that voice in her head, the cold sweat of fear running down her forehead, even though she knew he was nowhere near her. _'Why… why did I think of him? He… he's long dead… he can't hurt me…'_ She bit her lip, trembling slightly. There was no way she was _lucky_ , after all, she was stuck in a cell, drugged up, and drained of her blood every two days. She shook her head, trying to shake those memories from her mind, but unfortunately, at a time like this, all you could do was reminisce. Those horrible memories, the days she spent living in fear, as a _human_ , struggling to survive as a crazed werewolf was out to get her. And yet, strangely enough, those days seem much easier now that she thought back. Compared to what she was going through _now_ , she'd take that any day.

Behind the mountains, the sun began to set, and as such, the moon came out of hiding once again. The bluish silvery aura it emitted brightened the sky, but for one, it did more than just that.

It gave her strength.

* * *

Tsume was annoyed.

Now, that wasn't an unusual thing, it would be strange if he _wasn't_ annoyed. But no, what was strange was his attitude. He was oddly spaced out and almost jumpy, as if he was expecting something to happen. Unbeknown to everyone else, Tsume had in fact been having quite painful headaches at random times, and he felt short of breath out of nowhere. He had no idea what sprung this on, for he never had health issues in the past, and they only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing once more, as if they were never there. Bewildered and frustrated, Tsume resorted to sulking for the entire day.

Three months.

The still haven't found the others, and it's been three whole months. Still convinced they were alive, but now on his own, Tsume was forced to research on the others on his own, not that he cared. Everyone else would just get in the way, so it was probably best to do it on his own. At least then he can't blame anybody but himself.

He sighed heavily, his breath forming a silver mist in the freezing cold. He walked along the street with furrowed brows, not really paying attention to anything. His phone went off, and he almost flinched, knowing who it was already. Since the disappearance of the others, Bex and Hige have been concerned as to why Shauna stopped contacting them, and have been blowing up Tsume's phone ever since. Normally, he would ignore them until he knew what to say to them, but for some reason, he found himself reaching into his pocket to answer, "Yeah...?"

"Still no word…?" It was Bex.

"No," He forced himself to resist growling, "If she was found, I'd have told you, or you would have heard from her, herself."

"Sorry… Tsume, you don't think she's—"

" _No_ ," He snarled back, "She's _not_ dead. If she was, I'd have felt it." His hand rubbed his tired face with frustration, his energy burning up from this very conversation, "And no, I _don't_ know where to look for her. If you have a genius idea, I'd love to hear it, otherwise keep your opinions to yourself." With that, he hung up.

It only took him a few moments to start feeling guilty; even he had to admit, he _was_ pretty harsh, after all, Bex was just as worried about Shauna as he was, he shouldn't have snapped so coldly. But he couldn't help it, he had no idea where she was, and he had this sinking feeling that she was hurt. The image of her lying somewhere, broken, without any help, was enough to make his chest clench and his blood boil with rage. He had to find her.

And soon.

* * *

"I hate my job…" The doctor mumbled to himself, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he secured the white surgical gloves on his hands. In the dark, he fumbled for his keys, reaching up to unlock the steel door, all the while grumbling quietly, "Why is it that _I_ have to work while everyone else gets to rest? Unbelievable…" With a huff, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking down at the werewolf who sat in her cage. A momentary guilt came over him, as he unlocked the cage to walk inside, "You poor thing… you should just give up trying to survive, it'll be easier…" He took out the syringe from his coat pocket, readying to inject it into the pale arm of the girl.

A slap was heard and the vampire jolted backwards with shock, the syringe falling to the ground and the glass smashing, it's purple, liquid contents seeping into the cracks of the rocks. The hand that grabbed his wrist had a deathly grip, causing bones to crack and a bruise to form. His red eyes widened as they locked with the glowing, yellow-green eyes of the blonde girl, a growl rumbling from her throat.

" _Don't you dare… order me about…"_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Every time I say that "I'll have more time to update", I just end up forgetting to write and actually update. Well, it's not that I forget to write... I just write stuff that isn't this for some reason, which, I know, I'm sorry. I'm a bad author, I apologize.**_

 _ **Hope this makes up for it? Yeah? Let's pray nobody wants to kill me.**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

"Wait, what? You're leaving?" Toboe couldn't believe what his senior was telling him, shock practically written on his face as he started at him.

Tsume sighed, shifting the small bag on his back in discomfort, "For a little while," He grumbled, "I've already told Kiba… I'll be back soon, but since the Search Team have all given up, I'll have to go."

Toboe looked down, "Tsume… They might be—"

"They aren't dead," He snapped back, "I can't describe it properly, but, I would feel it, if they were dead. Shauna's still alive, which means the others must be alive as well." He narrowed his eyes, "I'll come back once I find her. Otherwise, I'll never get decent sleep and it's pissing me off." He growled.

Toboe stared up at him with wide, honey coloured eyes, "… You're… so worried about Shauna…"

Tsume didn't answer that, simply closing his eyes as he stepped around him, "I don't know when I'll be back," He sighed, "So take care of the house for me. Don't wreck it." He reached for the door handle.

"Tsume," The pup called, "I really hope... that you find her…"

Not answering to that either, the silver haired man frowned, opening the door and stepping out, allowing his instincts to lead him.

* * *

The doctor froze in his place, staring up at the blonde girl whose face was hidden by her wild blonde hair, which seemed to blow despite there not being much wind in the room, only the slight breeze that crept in from the crack in the window. He tugged, trying to free his wrist, but it didn't work. She never budged, not even slightly. His eyes widened, baffled by this sudden new-found strength the girl possessed. She made no move to harm him, but even so, he felt incredibly uneasy by the silence, and soon enough, his instincts started to scream at him to fight back, "H-How are you…" He winced as he tugged more on his wrist, once again getting nowhere, "You should be… unconscious! Even at that, you shouldn't have this strength… What are you?!"

The werewolf began to cough suddenly, her body jolting as she did so. Suddenly, she coughed out an orange pill that was glowing an ominous red, "That…" She growled, "Didn't do shit…" She gripped his wrist so hard it snapped, but before he could scream she slapped a hand over his mouth, "Shut up," She hissed darkly, her hair moving out her face as she leaned down to look at him in the eye. Her eyes, which were once an emerald-green colour, had a gold shade swirling within them, looking almost as if the two colours were about to merge. She gave a small grin, her sharp, animalistic fangs glinting in the soft moonlight.

Shaking slightly, he could only stare at her, his red eyes wide with fear, "W-Where did you even…" His eyes darted to the pill on the floor, before staring back at her, "M-Monster…"

Chuckling, she raised a hand, her sharper nails practically glowing with menace, "We're all monsters… _darling_." She echoed what she had heard, before slicing the vampire's throat.

Escaping was an easy task, for the idiot had left the two doors wide open behind him. Freedom was all that rang in her mind, and she sprinted down the hallway, not even stopping to think about the others she was leaving behind. Her eyes widened when she saw the elevator head upwards, and she cursed under her breath, jumping forward and grabbing the bottom of the elevator, climbing to the top of it.

The two guards inside blinked upon hearing the noise, "Did you hear something?" One asked the other, who merely shrugged.

"No idea… Might be your mind playing tricks…"

"Maybe…"

Before the door opened, Shauna jumped out and ran. The vampires caught a glimpse of her running through the halls and yelled out, "Hey! Get back here!"

Alarms rang throughout the entire prison, sounding that there was a werewolf on the run. Ignoring everything, Shauna raced past it all, the doors to the outside within sight.

Suddenly, a flash of red interrupted her, causing her to skid to an abrupt pause, "Well now, looks like we've got a runner," Ruby grinned, straightening, "How in the hell were you able to get free? Let alone be alive right now."

Shauna snarled at her, fists clenched angrily, "Get out of my way," She growled, her sharp teeth showing as she spoke.

Ruby shook her head, "The Chief wants you for your blood, so here you stay, until she arrives." She grinned, "Now just sit down and—" Her eyes widened as Shauna shot forward, a blur of black, before a sharp pain shot through her shoulder, drawing a yell of pain from the young vampire. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the wolf by the scruff and threw her off, gripping her heavily bleeding shoulder. To a vampire, a wolf's bite is the equivalent to being hit with silver, therefore the wound would take forever to heal properly. The bite she had received once before from Shauna had only just healed, but now, it was freshly reopened and even worse than before, "You… mutt…" She snarled, pain clouding her vision.

Hackles raised, she snarled angrily, fangs bared. Shifting back to her human form again, she quickly stepped back as another vampire jumped down in front of her, her purple hair flowing behind her.

"I'd ask how you managed to escape," Heather growled out, "But honestly, I don't have the time to care. You're outnumbered, Shauna. Sit down, and your life shall be spared."

She was ignored, for she kept her composure and refused to back down. With a scowl of annoyance, Heather shot forward, her speed blinding to the naked eye; what happened next, however, was not something anyone ever expected.

Shauna's fist connected with Heather's nose with brute force, sending her flying back and into a wall, sending cracks up the cave wall, the room shaking as rocks thudded to the ground.

Ruby stared, her face paler than it should be, "How… did she…?"

Heather sat up, growling, "Impossible…" She snarled, standing, "A werewolf can't possibly match a vampire's speed, nor have that much power!" She roared with anger, "This must be some sort of conspiracy. Someone must have given you some sort of power-boosting drug."

"There's no conspiracy," She answered, calmly, "There's a full moon tonight…" She suddenly grinned, wickedly, her eyes glowing a yellow glow in the darkness, "I told you, didn't I? That it wasn't wise to leave a werewolf in an area that had moonlight…" She clenched her fists. The yellow in her eyes intensified, swirling with the green and creating a lime colour instead. Her hair spiked out and shifted around her, as if it had a mind of its own.

Heather's eyes widened as she stared at her, frozen, almost mesmerized by her glare. The fierce, animalistic force that her eyes held made her feel small, vulnerable, as if she were prey waiting for the predator to make the final strike. _'Impossible… is this… the same girl who sat in a cell for three months, barely able to speak? Is this… really the same girl who trembled upon seeing me that time before? It can't be…'_ It was as if this girl had completely transformed into someone new. This new-found strength was unheard of; no werewolf had ever survived this much pain and suffering. Not only had this girl been drained of blood once before and survived, but for three whole months, she had served as a 'blood bank', and yet, despite all of that, she stood here, strength flowing through her veins, even though she should be hanging onto life by a thread.

 _Those eyes._

Heather couldn't pull herself away from staring at those eyes. Never in her lifetime had she seen a werewolf possess such eyes; it was almost as if… _'Is her… wolf side… merging with her human side?!'_ A pang went through her heart with realization, _'No, that can't be right… only true werewolves could do that…'_

"C-Chief!" Yells broke out as the guards suddenly scattered, the room becoming a lot hotter out of nowhere, "C-Chief, fire! FIRE!"

Due to the rocks that had fallen from the impact Heather had with the wall, the candle-lit-lanterns that had once hung from the wall fell, shattering, and the fire began to spread, catching onto the cloths of the vampire's clothes.

Heather's eyes widened at the fire, "Put it out, immediately! Do not let it spread!" She yelled, the vampires rushing about in a fierce panic. Fire was one of the biggest enemies of a vampire, for it was one thing that vampires could not regenerate from. If a vampire were to be set on fire, it would burn its skin straight through, until all that was left was ash. As a result, vampires had a natural phobia of fire.

Sensing the panic, Shauna took this chance to make a dash towards the doors. By the time she had raced through, the vampires had only noticed, and were too late to stop her now.

Heather snarled as the fire blazed, putting the vampires into a blind panic. Ruby stared at her, "C-Chief, the werewolf, she—"

"Leave her for now!" She snapped coldly, "Focus on putting out this damned fire. If it spreads, it will only cause more problems." She gritted her teeth, clenching her fists as she stared out into the mountain side, glaring after the werewolf.

' _I underestimated her…'_

* * *

Shauna coughed as she kept running, her chest burning with pain as her muscles begged her to stop. Three months of just sitting in a cell, and her muscles were starting to feel the consequences of not being used. She ignored the temptation to stop, deciding that tomorrow's pain would be worth it, if she could get as far away from that prison as possible. As she raced down the mountain, her foot suddenly got caught on a tree root and she gasped, tripping and tumbling down the hill, wincing in pain as she landed. Shaking, she slowly sat up, giving herself time to breathe.

' _I… I did it…'_ She thought, eyes widening as they returned to their normal emerald green, _'I actually… escaped!'_

Her joy lasted only a moment, as fatigue caught up to her, and she passed out, collapsing into the soft, white snow.


	18. Chapter 18

**_I swear I'm getting worse with updating schedules... Agh, I'm sorry._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

News of Shauna's escape spread like wildfire throughout the prison, each werewolf who heard it shocked and amazed at the fact that someone had actually gotten free. The opinions about it weren't exactly good, however, as most of the werewolves from Shauna's pack were rather angry with her for leaving. They considered her escape as nothing more than a selfish act, and cursed her that she didn't come back to free them. However, none of them knew the horrors the young werewolf had been put through.

Kyoko was thrilled that Shauna had escaped. She had feared that she was killed, but now that she knew she was safe, her mind was put at ease. _'Thank God… she's still alive… I'm glad…'_ She smiled softly, _'Tsume… Won't have to go through another death. I don't think he'd handle that…'_ A pang hit her heart, when she thought how badly he had dealt with Yuudai's death. He turned more to crime, and started getting mixed up with the wrong people. Because of this, he, along with Rex, Jasmine, and other werewolves, were threatened with being thrown out of the pack. Thankfully, Tsume broke away from them before it got out of hand; however, that led to more problems, as Rex retaliated by pinning a murder onto the grey werewolf. Somehow, that ended up with Tsume finding a woman he ended up loving… Kyoko found it rather adorable.

Leaning against the wall, Kyoko felt good for the first time since they arrived in this hell-hole. Shauna was free. Therefore, she could get the others to come, and free them all from this prison. For the first time in months, Kyoko felt… hopeful. Like something was finally going right for them.

' _It won't be long now…'_ She thought, smiling weakly, _'Maybe… we'll be freed soon…'_ Her orange coloured eyes lit up with determination, _'Our pack will get out of this jail, and we'll leave together…'_

* * *

The bus dropped him off in a random, desolate town, but he decided his search would have to start somewhere. He knew the vampires were restricted to the mountains, and the few towns surrounding the mountain. He sighed; this place was practically empty, most of the snow tipped houses didn't even have any windows or doors, and the path was dense with snow and was untouched, showing how little people walked through it. He figured that there was either a very heavy snow storm the night before, or, there were no people in this area. And judging from the lack of human scent he was getting, he figured it was the latter.

Sighing in annoyance, he gripped his bag and walked on, looking around and keeping alert, just in case any smart guy tried to jump him. Not like they could, but, just in case.

It was quiet. Deathly quiet. Now that he ventured further into the town, he noticed that the people who once lived her have long moved on. The houses were all boarded up, the wood rotting away as the cold crept in through the many cracks. Tsume wrinkled his nose at the smell of rats, the stench hurting his nose and making him scowl darkly. This town was most definitely deserted.

He had been searching the few towns around the mountain, trying to find any clues as to where the vampires and the other werewolves were. His gut was telling him they were in the mountain, but for some reason, he avoided it. Something about it made his skin crawl. There was an eerie atmosphere about the mountain, which loomed high above the few desolate towns that surrounded it. There didn't seem to be any forms of entry; at least, not yet, but he felt confident that he could find one.

"Hmm? Tsume?"

The voice caught him off guard, and he couldn't ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment that it wasn't Shauna's voice he was hearing. _'Wait, who's voice is that then?'_ He thought, frowning. He turned around and twitched, feeling a mixture of surprise and annoyance. His golden eyes narrowed as they landed on the sight of the black haired female, her purple eyes wide as she stared back at him.

"Oh, it's just _you_." He grumbled, shaking his head, before glaring at her, "I thought you and the rest of your little 'gang' died, you guys went quiet…" He sneered.

The female werewolf, who was known as Jasmine, blinked at Tsume with confused eyes, "I… No, we didn't die… we just separated… I don't know where the others are…" She frowned, "But… what are _you_ doing way out here?"

He scowled, not sure he wanted to answer her. After all, she had been associated with Rex, the bastard who terrorized Shauna a while ago, "… I'm looking for someone…"

Jasmine blinked, "Someone?" She paused, before piecing two and two together, "Is that someone Shauna? You seem worried…"

"Tch, stay out of it, it's nothing to do with you." He glared at her, turning his back to walk away.

"W-Wait, Tsume!" She pouted and ran towards him to catch up, "Why are you searching for this girl anyway? Why are you so interested in her?"

"Why are you so nosy?" He snapped back.

Jasmine frowned at that, "I don't mean to be… it's just… I never thought a girl would get your attention…" She mumbled. _'Especially since I could never get it…'_

Tsume narrowed his eyes at her, "… Shauna's different. I can't explain it, but I need her. Now get lost, I don't have time to deal with someone who bullies a human for entertainment."

"It wasn't me—"

"I don't care," He snarled, "You were involved. You could have stopped Rex from pinning a murder on me, you could have stopped him from going after Shauna. But you didn't, you let it happen. You're just as guilty." He hissed angrily, his eyes glowing with each word, "You were quick to disappear when Rex went on a rampage…"

Jasmine frowned, "… There was nothing I could have done, Rex was stronger than I'll ever be."

"He was pathetic, but you're even worse, you know that?" Tsume scoffed, beginning to walk away once again.

She watched him walk off, her eyes falling onto the footprints he left behind. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, tears of anger pooling in her purple coloured eyes.

Tsume didn't spare her a glance, but she never expected him to.

* * *

She had no idea where she was going, but she knew one thing for certain;

She was fucking starving.

It must have been about two weeks since she escaped the prison, and since then, she survived on moonlight alone. She hadn't encountered any towns for her to get food, or rest. Sleeping outside had become routine for her at this stage, but she didn't mind, the moonlight kept her alive and she appreciated it. Without it, she wouldn't have lasted this long in the first place.

Her stomach gave an uncomfortable growl as she was once again reminded that she hadn't eaten. With a sigh, she had to stop, unable to keep going on an empty stomach, "Goddammit…" She mumbled, tiredly, "It hurts…"

The flapping of wings overhead caught her attention, and the cawing of a bird causing her to look up. Her green eyes widened seeing the birds ahead, perched upon a tree. The large, fat crow resting on a branch caught her eye in particular. The bird was noticeably bigger than the rest, and he almost seemed to be dozing off. Unknown to herself, her mouth began to water, her wolf side giving a quiet growl of hunger. Her green eyes locked onto the large bird and she slowly made her way forward, looking around for something to throw at it. She carefully picked up a pebble, before flinging it at the bird, stunning it as it fell to the ground with a loud, ear splitting shriek. Her human form dropped and the black coloured wolf lunged, ending the bird's life in one swift movement.

Shauna had never killed an animal in her life, and while she had been previously against the act of killing, she supposed it didn't matter now that she's killed a vampire. As she ate the flesh of the bird, she resisted the urge to throw up, reminding herself that if she didn't eat, she'd die. This wasn't luxury; this was survival.

Once she finished her meal, she shifted back to her human form and wiped the blood off her lips, the pain in her stomach still lingering.

 _It's not enough._

Her sensitive ears picked up the sounds of footsteps approaching, and she whirled around, fear gripping her heart as she thought it might be the vampires. But, to her surprise, it wasn't the vampires. It was just an old lady... No.

An old _werewolf._


	19. Chapter 19

_**Feels really odd how this is only chapter 19... Oh well, I'm just amazed I got this up so soon. Not the longest, but still. Enjoy.**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

Shauna stared as the old woman stood in front of her, silently, her long white hair covering her face as she stood hunched over. If she were to guess, Shauna would assume that this woman was nearly ninety years of age. She was dressed in a long, black tunic, with a white shawl on her shoulders. Her skin was a deathly pale colour, as if she had been touched by Death himself. She held a black walking stick, her pale, wrinkly hands resting atop of it as she stood in front of the young blonde.

"Werewolf…" She muttered out, her voice crackling slightly and causing a shiver to run up the blonde's spine.

Slightly unsettled by this woman, Shauna took a cautious step back, "Who are you?" She asked, in a demanding tone. This person had a strange scent… but, then again, Shauna wasn't sure what scents were what. She still hadn't gotten used to that…

A smirk appeared on the elders face, and she lifted her head to look at the younger woman, revealing a pair of pale golden eyes, "Don't be so tense…" She spoke calmly, her eyes glinting although appeared to be losing their sight, "What harm can this old hag do to a youngster like yourself?"

For some reason, this didn't ease Shauna's nerves at all. There was something overpowering about this woman, something that made her wolf side tuck it's tail and whine. She wanted to do that; but, as everyone knew… she was stubborn. "You didn't answer my question…"

A laugh erupted from the old woman's mouth, "My my! Such a bold young girl…" She smiled, "If you must know, my name is Molly… it was something else once upon a time, but goodness me, I can't possibly remember that long ago… So just call me Molly…" She raised a hand, "You poor dear… you're malnourished… feeding off some crows… I've never seen a werewolf reduced to such a pitiful state…"

Shauna frowned, "… I've never been out of that pitiful state… I'm not—"

"A real werewolf… you've been changed… is that right?"

"What? How… did you know that?"

Molly smiled, revealing sharp canines and missing teeth, "It is obvious, love… you do not behave the way of a werewolf… you're simply too human…"

Shauna frowned, "Too human? Well… duh, it's only been about a year…" She frowned, has it been that long? Or longer? She can't even remember.

Her stomach suddenly gave a loud growl, and she flushed in embarrassment, gripping it. The bird meat did nothing to satisfy her hunger, if anything it made her want more.

Molly smiled, "You poor thing, you're starved… come, follow me and I shall look after you…" When she noticed that the blonde didn't move, she smiled in a more gentle way, "Do not worry, young one… I have no intention of harming you…"

The elder werewolf led the blonde into the forest, silence falling between them as they simply walked. The forest became more dense as they went further, and the trees, despite being dead, seemed to block out most of the sunlight. The snow crunched under her feet as she followed the fast pace of the old woman, until the relieving sight of a small, wooden cabin came into view.

Now, Shauna's watched many, many horror films, and if there's one thing she's learned, it's to not follow strangers into an isolated cabin in the woods. That never ends well. She frowned slightly, unsure what to say as she was led inside. She still wondered why she chose to follow this woman.

"Sit down, child, and make yourself comfortable." Molly smiled at her, ensuring her that everything was fine. Shauna still felt like it wasn't.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked, cautiously, her green eyes staring at the old woman.

She received a smile, "Because, child, you're a fellow werewolf… And anyways, you seem rather vulnerable."

Shauna frowned, "I'm not…" She mumbled, but who was she kidding? Of course she was vulnerable, she spent months in a prison, forced to give over her blood to vampires. How could she not be vulnerable?

Molly set a plate of food on the small table, ushering her to sit, "Eat, child… you can't survive on crows…"

Her stomach growled loudly and she blushed, though she shamelessly dug into the food, the delicious scents drifting up her nose and causing her mouth to water. She didn't care if she looked like a pig, she hadn't had a decent meal in months; one that wasn't laced with sedatives.

Molly smiled at her gently, sitting down and remaining silent as the blonde ate her fill. To no surprise, she cleared the whole plate and sat back with a contented sigh, her stomach full and the pain of hunger gone. "So, young one… what is your name?"

"Shauna," She no longer felt any fear in the presence of this woman. She practically saved her life, there was no reason to fear her anymore, "Thank you for the food…"

"It was no problem…" The woman's golden eyes narrowed as her gaze rested upon the bright red scars that littered the younger werewolf's neck, "… Those are some nasty wounds…"

"Vampires," Shauna hissed the word, as if it were venom, "They had me locked in a cell… used me as some sort of blood bank…"

"Is that so…" Molly sighed, "So you were held captive in the mountains then?"

"You know about it?"

"Of course, I can smell their deathly scent from here… I can also smell the werewolves who are held there, as well…"

"Wow," Shauna blinked at her, "Your nose is stronger than any werewolf I know…"

Molly smirked slightly at that, her sharp teeth glinting, "My dear, I'm not like the werewolves you know…"

"Huh?"

Green eyes met the golden pair, and suddenly the overpowering fear crept back into Shauna's heart, "Because, darling… I'm a _true_ werewolf…"

* * *

"Kiba…"

The alpha turned to face the Beta, who's face was brighter than it had ever been since the attack, "Yes? What is it?"

The Beta werewolf gave a wide grin, "We found it… our scouts found the vampire's stronghold… They're hiding out in the mountain."

"Is that so?" Kiba's blue eyes glinted and he nodded, "Good. We'll prepare for a rescue mission, then."

"Shouldn't we wipe them out, once and for all? This has gone on for too long now…"

"We can't be reckless," The Alpha shook his head, "If we handle this poorly, we could risk all of their lives. We have to be smart. Saving them is top priority; whatever happens after that, we'll deal with it then. Understood?"

The Beta nodded and bowed, "Understood… We'll regroup and plan the recue mission."

Kiba nodded, "Good… We only have one shot at this. It's do or die at this point…"

The other werewolf ran off to make the preparations, and Kiba turned to set his gaze upon the mountain, his eyes narrowing.

' _We'll save you all… I promise…'_


	20. Chapter 20

_**I actually can't wait for this school year to be over, I swear to God. I'm so sick of everyone at my school. But, anyways, enjoy.**_

 _ **Disclaimer; I don't own Wolf's Rain.**_

* * *

" _I'm a true werewolf…"_

Shauna's entire body froze and she stared at the old woman sitting across from her, speechless. Her green eyes were wide and her face was drained of colour. A true werewolf? They still existed? She thought they were declared extinct… The fact that she was sitting in front of one made her breath get caught in her throat. So this is why she felt so small and weak in her presence…

Molly noticed how tense the blonde suddenly became and she offered a small, friendly smile, "Do not be afraid, child…" Her voice was calming, and it reminded her much of her own mother's voice, "I do not wish to frighten you…"

"I thought…" Shauna found her voice and cleared her throat quickly to prevent it breaking, "I had thought that true werewolves had vanished…"

"I do not know of anyone else of my kind," The older woman stated sadly, eyes down, "For all I know, I may be the last…" She paused, pursing her wrinkled lips in thought, "… I believe that werewolves can revert back to how we used to be…"

"Huh?"

Molly looked up, sighing, "As you might know, true werewolves are thought to have gone extinct after the vampires were banished to the mountains… Because there was no danger or war, werewolves slowly began to turn weaker, the natural instinct to fight slowly diminishing… I guess you can say we did the opposite of evolution, in a way… As the world became peaceful, werewolves found no reason for fighting and therefore became a much weaker version…"

Shauna blinked, "… So that's why werewolves find it difficult to fight vampires now? Because… the lack of fighting in the hundreds of years has turned them weak?"

"Indeed," She nodded, frowning, "Vampires might have grown softer also, maybe rusty due to not being able to battle… but they still developed whilst in banishment, therefore, they held onto the hatred, which I believe is fuelling them at the moment…"

Nodding slowly, Shauna took time to let this sink in, and she tilted her head, "And… what's this got to do with 'reverting back'?" She asked, curiously.

"Perhaps a werewolf can be taught what we true werewolves know naturally…"

"Such as?"

Molly smiled mischievously, "Drawing power from the moon… merging our wolf side and human side… enhancing our senses… that sort of thing…"

Shauna blinked in confusion, briefly thinking back to when she escaped the prison. It had been a blur at the time, but now that she thought back, she did feel as if the moon fuelled her with some sort of power, enabling her to match the vampire's strength. She also remembered how different she had felt, almost more feral… was that what happened? Her wolf and human sides merged together?

She went silent, thinking over everything for a moment. If she had that sort of power, she could easily go up against the vampires. That would mean that she wouldn't have to live in fear of them anymore, and she could protect everyone…

"Molly," The old woman looked up curiously, "Do you think… you could teach me?" The older werewolf blinked at her in surprise, the request catching her off guard. After all, she didn't seem like the type to want this. Sensing her doubt, Shauna's eyes hardened, "I have people precious to me that I need to protect… These vampires are terrorizing my pack and I need to do something… Please, I'm begging you. Teach me…" She bowed her head.

Molly stared at her blankly for a moment, before letting out a loud laugh. Confused at this, the blonde looked up and frowned, feeling slightly annoyed that she laughed off her request. When her laughter finally died down, the twinkle in her golden eyes shone in the darkness of the cabin, "My dear, I was hoping you'd ask that…" She grinned, "We'll start tomorrow…"

* * *

"So, what's the first lesson?" Shauna asked eagerly, grinning at the older werewolf. She looked around, wondering why the lesson had to start in the middle of the night, but as she looked at the woman, she noticed how she was staring at the bright, blue tinted moon above them. Following her gaze, Shauna couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful it really was.

"Our first lesson, pup, is drawing strength from the moon…" Molly smiled. She held her hands out, her hands cupped slightly and her elbows bent, it almost looked as if she was trying to feel if it was raining, "Observe…" Her eyes closed, and as Shauna watched, she noticed a blue light shine emit from the true werewolf, her hair blowing around her. She was practically glowing, and, Shauna noticed, she seemed to appear much stronger as a result, "The moon has been worshipped by werewolves for thousands of years…" She explained, "And for good reasons… the moon gives us spiritual energy, which, over time, we've learned to convert into physical energy… for example, by harnessing this lunar power, we can heal faster, become physically faster, and stronger. However, there are downsides…" She frowned, "If you absorb too much of this lunar power, it'll take a massive toll on your body. You might even lose your mind with it, so, be very careful…"

Shauna blinked, nodding, "Okay… so… how do I do it?"

"Copy my actions… close your eyes and ask the Moon Spirit to lend you it's strength…"

Nodding slowly, Shauna closed her eyes and attempted to do what Molly said. For a while, she felt no different. But then, she felt a surge of power flow through her. It didn't last long, only about five seconds, but she felt it. She opened her eyes and grinned, "It worked…"

"Not for long, but with practice you'll get it…" Molly smiled at her.

"So I can heal faster with this power?" She asked, curiously, a wide grin on her face, her green eyes sparkling.

"Yes," Replied the older werewolf, "But remember what I said. Abuse this power and it will bite back. Everything has a consequence, Shauna. It's very important to remember that..."

Nodding, the blonde smiled brightly as a new ambition filled her. If she grew stronger, she could defend her pack against the vampires... She could protect them all.

She could protect him...

* * *

Heather scowled as she bit her thumb nail, glaring at the machine in front of her. The blue light flashed constantly and she couldn't figure out what it needed for the final push...

She reached over and opened a part of the machine where the fuel was supposed to go. An idea struck her, and she suddenly smirked.

"It needs blood..."


	21. Chapter 21

**_Finally, it is Summer. This chapter took so much effort, you have no idea. I wrote up like 80%, it didn't save, so I had to rewrite it. Then I decided I didn't like how something went, so rewrote it again, and urgh. So much tea was consumed during the making of this chapter._**

 ** _Also, I promise to include more Tsume and actual WR characters in upcoming chapters; I promise!_**

 ** _Anyways, enjoy._**

 ** _Disclaimer; I do not own Wolf's Rain._**

* * *

How long has it been, she wondered? How long has it been since she was living in a small, sleepy town, where the only interesting thing that happened was that someone won big in Bingo. Where the young people were so bored they left, the place was too boring to even do crime in.

Regardless, it had been her home once. Where she lived with her mother, father, and older brother. Thinking of them all now made her chest hurt; would they have hated her, for becoming a werewolf? Would they smile and say, "If it makes you happy"? Or would they demand for her to be killed, before she ravished them all. It scared her, what they might think, but then she remembered what her older brother always said to her when she was little.

" _Whatever you choose to do, I'll support. It's you who controls your life, nobody else."_

She lived by those words, and often thought of them. She had forgotten them whilst in captivity, but now that she was free, they rang in her head like a mantra, reminding her of who she is, and who she was supposed to listen to; Herself. She controlled herself. Nobody owned her, nobody got to say what she did. Thinking of it now, her blood boiled that the vampires took that away.

Lying in the soft, white snow gave her time to reflect on everything that happened. Her arms stretched behind her head as she rested on the fluffy, white snow, taking a well-deserved break after intense training with Molly.

Shauna had been a normal human girl growing up. She had been the youngest in her family, her brother being nine years older than herself. Always being praised as the 'Princess' of the family, she became lost and confused when she suddenly lost them all. It had been so sudden, she never would have guessed that day, that when she called goodbye to them as she went to school, it would have been the last word she'd ever say to them.

Before she knew it, tears began rolling down her cheeks. She quickly caught them and cursed herself for crying. She hated crying, and it was rare that she did cry. Usually when she did, Tsume was around to quickly stop her tears, usually by a smart remark or by simply holding her.

The air around her grew ten times colder, her body missing the warmth his tended to provide her in these situations. Her chest tightened painfully and jolted upright, bending over and gasping, her hand clutching her shirt as she found breathing to be difficult. The crippling isolation hit her with full force, and she felt herself breathe heavily, her thoughts only occupied by one thing.

' _Tsume. Oh god. Is he okay? Where is he? Did they get him? Does he hate me? Dammit, what if he's- '_

Shauna froze as arms suddenly wrapped around her, but the scent told her that it wasn't Tsume. The sinking feeling of disappointment gripped her, but she didn't complain, and instead leaned into the comfort of the older woman behind her. "M-Molly?"

"Shh, child…" The older woman soothed the sobbing blonde, stroking her hair gently, "You're having an attack… it'll be okay, it will pass… Just try to calm your heart…" She mumbled quietly, softly.

"W-What's happening?"

"Your wolf side is crying out…" She sighed, "You're missing your mate… it's alright, every wolf experiences this at some point…"

Shauna froze, her body going still as her green eyes shot open. The words of the older werewolf sank in slowly, and she bit on her lower lip, her shoulders beginning to shake. Slowly she turned to bury her head into the older woman, her emotions finally weighing down enough to be let out. She broke down, then and there, in Molly's arms.

The elderly woman sighed sadly and held her close, saying nothing as she allowed the young blonde sobbed, the pressure and weight of everything that had happened finally collapsing on her. Frowning, Molly stroked her hair, her heart hurting with each cry she gave, _'Poor child… been through so much, all on her own…'_ Her eyes softened, sadly, _'To have survived until now… I'm shocked…'_

It took almost an hour for Shauna to finally settle. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy from crying, and her throat felt like it had been scratched by a dozen cats. She pulled back from Molly slowly, sniffing and rubbing her eyes with her sleeves, her face heating up when she realized how much of a mess she must look like. Taking a few deep breaths, she centred herself, running her hands through her loose, messy hair and looking up at the old woman, who stared back at her in soft concern.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Nodding stiffly, Shauna looked down, not trusting her voice at that moment. She rubbed her eyes more, as they felt sore from the number of tears that escaped them.

"You don't have to feel ashamed," Molly said, softly, as she reached out and took hold of her hands, "Almost every werewolf suffers from this… it's a common thing. Werewolves… mate for life. That means, the pain of missing them, whether they have… died, or not, is much more painful than it should be…" She smiled softly, reaching a hand up to place on Shauna's cheek, finally getting the younger woman to look up into her eyes, "… Don't be so ashamed of it… it means you care for your mate, tremendously… That's a good thing."

"But…" Shauna cleared her throat to get rid of the hoarseness, "It's only _now_ that I've even thought about him… What kind of mate am I, if I only remember him now? I'm awful…" She gritted her teeth. How could she have been so selfish?

"Why are you putting yourself down so harshly?" She asked, frowning at her, "You were locked away, in a prison, isolated for months with little food and little strength… In those situations, _everyone_ puts themselves first. It's a natural thing, for humans, animals, beasts alike. The need for survival is our one shared instinct. You've thought of him now because you're at ease… you finally got the chance to relax and reflect on what's happened…" She sighed, "Darling… you put too much of this on your own shoulders… it's weighing you down, mentally, and emotionally… if you keep this up, you'll end up dead."

Staring at the ground, the young werewolf nodded slightly at her words, her mind progressing them slowly. Her hands began to shake again as she thought of how Tsume must feel; would he be angry? Annoyed? Worried? She had no idea. Tsume was always hard to figure out, and part of her hoped he was worried. It would mean he still cared for her, after everything that happened. After what she had said and how she acted.

' _I really am a nuisance, he hadn't been wrong…'_ She thought, her mind going back to their argument before the attack took place.

"Shauna?"

She looked up again at Molly, who frowned at her, "What are you planning to do?" Asked the older werewolf, curiously.

Pausing for a moment to think about what she meant, a frown appeared on her face. She chewed her bottom lip as she made a decision, before finally, she nodded, "… The only way any of this will be settled is if this war with werewolves and vampires end… So… Please…" She suddenly bowed her head, her hands on the ground as she did so, "If you can… teach me how to be a proper werewolf… Help me get stronger, so I can protect everyone, and end this shitty feud."

Molly blinked in surprise, before a toothy grin appeared on her face.

"Of course, darling."

* * *

Jasmine scowled slightly as she walked into the forest, pulling her leather jacket closer to her body. Huffing in annoyance, her mind continued to replay her encounter with Tsume from a few days ago.

Kicking at some snow, she couldn't understand what was so 'important' about Shauna, that the grey werewolf had taken such a liking to. She had been just a human, after all, she was nothing special. Just a loud, annoying brat who lived in the house her dead family owned. She was nothing, a nobody, and yet she managed to capture the heart of the werewolf everyone thought was unlovable. _'That should have been_ _me._ _'_

 _"… Shauna's different. I can't explain it, but I need her."_

Huffing, she glared at a random tree, as it trying to burn a hole through it with her gaze. _'What's so different about her? What does she have, that I'll never have?'_

" _He was pathetic, but you're even worse, you know that?"_

A scoff escaped her lips as she thought about what he had said, "What does _he_ know… getting hung up over some girl who's _probably dead_ … what a damn loser…" She scowled, anger bubbling in her chest. She swung her fist at the tree in front of her, punching a large dent in it, and causing the birds above to fly off in panic. Her purple eyes followed them lazily, until something caught her interest and made her momentarily forget about her anger.

An old, wooden cabin in the distance. From where she was, no human could ever see it, but her heightened senses made it possible for her to see. Pausing, she sniffed the air, trying to detect any possible dangers. She found none, so she slowly moved towards the cabin.

As she got closer, her eyes widened upon catching the sight of bright blonde hair sitting in the snow.

' _Is that…?'_

The sound of laughter reached her ears as she saw the blonde sit with a much older woman, who smiled warmly.

Jasmine's eyes widened with shock. She had no more doubts;

That was _definitely_ Shauna…


End file.
